Dark Abyss
by Jack C. Trade IV
Summary: The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders! (Chapter 5, rewritten)
1. Chapter 1, Falling Into The Dark Abyss

_**Dark Abyss**_

The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders!

 _ **WARRING!: Mentions of suicide, self harm, and abuse**_.

* * *

 **~Chapter One: **Falling Into The Dark Abyss~****

When walking down a busy street people except to be safe, that nothing is wrong as they walk among the colorful leaves of Autumn.

Families with children taking a stroll to the park, couples lovingly cuddling to stay warm in the slight chill, singles just enjoying the season with their overpriced pumpkin spice lattes, artisans looking for inspiration for their next master piece. Nothing is wrong, but not many people look past the surface of a seemingly picturesque moment of real life.

They don't see the homeless vagabonds that populate the park in secret, searching for gullible people to enable their bad habits of alcohol and drugs. There are still people with over priced Pumpkin spice lattes, not caring for anything that didn't involve themselves or anything on their expensive new phones. Self absorbed women gossiping as young children roughly played on the decades old playground equipment. A group of young men, with poorly concealed guns, tucked hazardly into the bands of their baggy pants, looking at everyone that passed with contempt and hostility.

Anna gave a sigh as she shivered her normally golden eyes dulled to yellow, unfocused as they glanced around at the park her family used to go to. Ghosts of the past ran and played around the rusted old playground, echoes of children laughing cruelly played in her ears. The cold bite of air chomped at her skin under the large black jacket and exposed bruised face, black and blue distorting her lightly tanned skin.

No one questioned or even looked at her as she made her way to an old wooden bridge, a few planks plagued with rot and some completely missing forming holes big enough for a small child to fall threw. "It's not condemned?" she questioned softly as she looked at the fallen and defiled sign that lay on the ground.

 _ **Bridge Closed**_

The letters where not very readable under the spray paint, but she knew what the sign looked like after two decades of it being posted. Sighing again, her faded black sneakers stepped on the rioting planks, the old wood crying out at the heavy weight of the young woman as she walked across the bridge until she was over the water. Carefully approaching the old railing, she reached out with a shivering blood stained hand, gripping the rotting wood gently as she approached to see over the rail. The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the flickering street lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks.

Anna could see her reflection among the trash, bruised and bloody from events prior, most of the blood soaked into the black fabric of her clothes and hair with some specks staining her skin. Trembling a few tears escaped from her eyes as she leaned forward on the rails.

There was a loud crack and following splash, only a few turned to look for the source of the sound. A few noticing the missing railing from the old bridge before going back to their lives. Never hearing someone struggling in the water... then again Anna didn't struggle as she let the cold water wash away the blood and cooled her bruises. Letting the dark abyss take her away with the rest of the trash.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Anna's eyes flew open suddenly in shock, gasping and choking on air. Her body trying to curl in on itself but restraints around her ankles and wrists prevented it.

"What the?" Anna croaked out as she looked at the restraints, eyes squinting agents the bright light above her, squirming around she could feel another metal like restraint around her waist. "What's going on he-he-rear?" she stuttered as her head fell back and a strange masked person appeared in her view. A long white bird like mask with six glowing yellow eyes stared down at her, a dark purple robe hiding what the mask didn't.

" ** _Subject 195_** is awake." A deep voice came from behind the mask, making Anna shiver in slightly warm room, as it moved away getting something that looked like a large syringe filled with light purple liquid. "The experiment can now commence." It said with a rather sinister tone as all the color drained from Anna's once lightly tanned skin as an overly large needle pierced her skin, injecting the strange liquid into her veins.

 ** _PAIN_**

That was all she could comprehend as they gave her a more needles filled with that strange liquid, it only stopped once her heart exploded in her chest. At least it felt like it did when blood spilled from every hole in her body, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and even her neither regions. A bright white was all she could see before being greeted by a black abyss. Feeling something sharp seep out from her bones, pricing muscle, fat, and other organs as they cut open her skin from the inside, down her arms, her legs her back neck and even her head.

It was painful, she wanted to scream but wasn't sure if she could, trying to fill her punctured lungs with oxygen, only giving out a strange wheezing noise with each breath she tried to take. The pain dulled away as she became numb, relaxing as her vision cleared to see three cloaked and masked people in the operating room, or whatever they called it, standing around and watching her suffer. Anger flashed into her system before being over written by sudden pain, muffled sounds entered her bleeding ears but she could not comprehend what the strange beings where saying to one another as they turned their backs to her.

 ** _"Failure."_**

Anna stopped breathing as the beings disappeared, frozen by the one word she could understand.

' _Fail...ure?'_ she questioned before her senses gave out again, greeting the dark abyss once again.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

It was cold.

That was the first thing Anna noticed as she was arouse form the abyss again, disappointed.

' _I thought it would be the last time... why can't I just die already?'_ She thought as some tears welled into her eyes, only to be blinked away as her amber eyes looked into surprised yellow eyes of a purple creature.

"You're still alive?" it asked in a surprised tone, looking down at her with pity. "You are rather reliant for such a young cub. The other subjects usually died during the first injection." It said, confusing and depressing Anna who let out a strange bark of disbelief. ' _Of course... When one wants to meet Death, he reschedules.'_ She thought bitterly as they slowly closed their eyes, only to fly open as the sound of the restraints retracting surprised her. The purple being looking determined about something as it looked at her.

"Can you sit up?" it asked, Anna wanted to roll her eyes at him but slowly she tried to sit up for the first time in what felt like centuries.

' _Shit!'_

Anna cursed in her mind at the pain moving caused, even carefully moving muscles she had not used for so long, even simply sitting up was agonizingly painful. Blinking away the dark edges of her vision she could see she was not dressed in her baggy dark clothes, but a maroon and gray body suit, with what looked like small lavender crystals growing out of her skin like hair, all over her legs, arms, chest and she dreaded where else she would find them growing.

' _What the hell!?'_ Anna questioned as she painfully moved her legs off the table to drape down the side, carefully flexing her stiff toes, before slipping off the table. A sudden and massive wave of pain ran threw her feet and threw her body, her legs gave out and made her plummet to the floor, only the unyielding force of the floor wasn't felt. Instead it was something like soft, warm fur that brushed ageists her sensitive skin. Golden eyes widen as they looked at the purple being whom had its arms under her back and knees, picking her up as easily as if she was a small child, walking out of the room and into a dark purple hall way.

Anna stared at the creature… its purple fur with lavender stripes on his head looked very familiar. Yellow eyes looked down at her, giving a strange and foreign smile. "No one will hurt you again little one. I will make sure of it." It told her in a rather protective, fatherly sort of tone. Anna stared at it, him, for a while as his quick pace, soft breathing, and clam pulse soothed her senses.

Slowly her eyes shut again, this time the dark abyss was warm and furry.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Anna didn't want to wake up, slowly becoming aware of things around her. She was on her front, laying on something like a bed; she couldn't sleep on her sides or her back for several reasons beside the pain and weird gems poking out of her skin. The strange suit she was in was gone, and she was dressed in a slik night gown that went down to her ankles, little bows decorated the straps that ran over her thin shoulders and one just above her rather aching chest. The gown feeling like smooth silk compared to the well worn blue blanket was draped over her and a pillow that smelled soothingly familiar to her. Wrapping her arms around it, she buried her face in it to breath in the scent, trying to place it before someone knocked one the door.

She tensed at the sudden noise, door slid open before she could even think to respond.

"Rise and shine little one, it's time to eat." A recognizable voice called out; opening one golden eye she saw the purple being who took her away from the strange place and the painful experiments. He was holding a tray of what she assumed was food; a little steam was rising from the bowl and a glass with clear liquid with it. She blinked slowly as he came closer, stopping as he set the tray down on what looked to be a table that folded out of the wall.

"Can you sit up again?" he asked gently, making Anna blink owlishly. Carefully she arched her back, several loud cracks filling the room, moving her legs slowly to come under her body as she pressed one hand into the bed, the other still hugging the pillow, folding her legs in front of her as she held the pillow to her chest for comfort. She stared at the purple furred creature in confusion and curiosity, her vision oddly blurry.

"That's a good girl, can you hold this?" he asked, smiling gently while holding out what looked like a spoon.

Carefully Anna reached out to grab it, the crystals on her skin looking more like shimmering scales then crystals. She grabbed it carefully and took it from the furred creature. She was shaking noticeably and the spoon slipped from her weak fingers. She flinched, screwing her eyes tightly, expecting the clattering of the spoon and to be punished for her failure to complete a simple task.

"Hmm. Seems you're not able to. I'll feed you myself, but just for today." She heard the purple furred creature say, popping her eyes open in surprise. She saw the spoon in his hand, as his other hand reached for the bowl of some warm stew. Dipping the spoon in it, he gently blew on the burnt orange colored concoction before holding it out in front of her mouth steadily. Looking at it unsurely before taking a careful sniff, smelling something like meat and exotic spices coming from it. She looked at the spoon and then at the creature for a brief moment before staring at the offered food again.

The furry creature noticed her reluctance even as her mouth watered and stomach roared , demanding to be filled. A frown crossed his lips as he looked at her, seeing a very frightened and meek creature that wouldn't hurt a fly, or even could in her current state of health.

Recalling the scarce information on _**Subject 195:**_ she was subjected to experimentation and injections for only a few Quintents, with no mention of where she came from or even where she was acquired in their meticulously kept records. The druids where forcefully splicing foreign DNA stands into a living being, let alone one past it's normal growth stage, it was an insane idea that was pointless. This little one looked like she had tried to fight off the druids at some point, judging by the extra restraints, only to fail as they forced her to change. She survived each experiment by a slender hair, until the latest injection... her body finally giving out, and the Druids declared her a failure. He was tasked with deposing of the body, and he did... just not how they wished he did. The little one was still alive, much to his amazement, but she was no longer the same form before the druids experiments.

White hair that looked more like strands of white crystals spilled over her shoulders in slight waves down her back; her skin retained its tanned coloring, small lavender crystals doted her cheek bones, eyes were bighting form their dull yellow to gold, outlined with beautiful full dark lashes, bones visible under her skin that was not already covered by the painful looking crystals, jutting out like unwanted hairs.

"Eat little one." He voiced with concern as he saw her lips press shut as she moved backwards slightly, looking away from him as she hugged the pillow closer. "It's okay, look." He sighed and brought the spoon to his mouth and gave a satisfied noise but she still looked at him with suspicion. "It's not poised, and you need to eat." He told her but Anna only bit her lip in concern. The furred creature sighed and set the bowl and spoon down before turning to leave before he realized something.

"My name is Ulaz, _Little one_. I wish for you to come and trust me. You are going to be here for a very long time." Anna blinked at his words, watching his retreating back before the door closed behind him, a small beep was heard from the other side, presumably to lock her in. She looked over at the food left for her before looking around at the room it self. It was small with a single bed, a closet and a small book self above what looked to be desk with books, paper, and pens.

Curious, she carefully stood up on shaky legs, abandoning the pillow on the bed, to slowly reach the desk. Looking curiously at the all books, seeing strange symbols instead of familiar letters. Ignoring the food she reached out for the cover of one book, flipping it open to a random page that made her golden eyes sparkle with excitement at the familiar looking illustration.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

In a large darkly lit room stood several masculine masked and hooded beings, all surrounding a smaller, more feminine shaped masked being, hood down with a bright white mane of hair pulled back into a high wavy ponytail practically glowing in the dark room. "Are you ready little one?" a deep voice asked, getting a small nod from the female in the middle before one of the males broke from the circle, carrying something that looked like a dagger in hand before offering it to the little one... blade first.

With an ungloved hand she wrapped her fingers around the blade tightly, drawing dark purple blood that slowly coated the blade.

"Do you swear your life to the Blade of Marmora?" he asked, mask tilted down to look as the female.

"I swear my life to the Blade." She spoke confidently, gripping the dagger tighter, letting out more blood.

"Will you keep its secrets, and do whatever is in your power to bring down Zarkon?" the male asked, a loud silence filling the room. "I will do what I see fit, to free _everyone_ form Zarkon's Iron fisted rule." She said with confidence, as the silence reigned over the group... for several ticks, waiting for her to continue the pledge. "And it's secrets?" the male prompted, not sounding very happy, but the female was quite for a bit too long. " _Little one_." He growled out, getting anger before she let out a sigh.

"A far as Zarkaon is concerned, there is no Blade of Marmora trying to over throw him." she responded, before the male gave a deep growl. "That is why we take its secrets into the next world, and so will you." He said sternly as the female tilted her head slightly.

"I will take its secrets with me to the next world. Happy now?" she asked, and he gave a snort in reply as a few others around him chuckled quietly.

"Then by this blade, you hear by give your body, mind, and soul to our cause." He said before letting go of the hilt, the symbol engraved on it glowed a bright lavender as the small dagger grew in length and became thinner, making a slight curve at the tip before the symbol changed into another, it's glow fading. The female grabbed the handle of the new katana with her other hand, reading the familiar symbol on the hilt.

" _ **Heart**_." she mused softly, running a bloody finger over it with pride.

"Welcome to the Blade of Marmora, _Devine_." The male said sternly but as soon as he did the other members eagerly approached the small female. "Glad to _officially_ have you join us Litt- _Ah_ , Devine." Another male spoke, correcting himself as the female took off her mask. Exposing her sparkling golden eyes and excited smile that stretched across her lightly tanned face, glowing white markings on her cheek bones and exposing her feline like teeth with glee.

"Thanks. It's gonna be nice not hearing everyone calling me _little one_ for a change." She responded, looking over the group of her mentors and teachers with a slowly dropping smile. "Hey... where's Master Ulaz?" she asked, her mood damping before another, a much larger male ruffled her hair with his large hand. "Not to worry. He left to set The Champion free, just like you have been begging Kolivan to let you do." He informed her as she let out an excited squeal as her white hair glowed.

"Really! He believed me!?" she asked, bouncing on her heals excitedly even as the others scoffed. "Yes, but Ulaz always indulges you with those child's tales." Golden eyes narrowed at the one who said that. "It's not just a story! It's real! Voltron will be coming back to help us defeat Zarkon." she declared adamantly, as the room grew quiet. Anna, or Devine as she was renamed in this new reality, could feel their sadness and frustration with her seemly childish belief. She turned to the largest member in the group.

"You believe me, right?" she looked at him with large eyes and a pout, fluttering her dark lashes up at him cutely.

"Agh! Y-yes, of course I do, but we know Zarkon has recently found the red lion. Who knows if he has found the others, or if they even still exist." The large male reasoned before Devine gave him a confident smirk. "They do exist! That's why I'm going to Arus to help them." she declared as there was a collective sigh all around her.

"You can't just take off to some far off planet, based on an ancient child's tale. There are other things you can do to help right here."

Devine rolled her eyes at the masked male before smirking.

"Yeah, but that _child's tale_ has a big red, mecha cat of evidence. At some point those stories must be true. I can finely show you the universe is trying to correct itself. The lions will find new Paladins and form Voltron once again." She stood confidently and pointed her new sword in a seeming random direction, envisioning the 10,000 year old Galra Leader standing before the tip of her blade.

"They will help set us free from Zarkon." She declared, serious as there was a moment of silence among them.

"Do you even know where Arus is?" A male asked after a while, not convinced. "Found the coordinates ages ago, and I already programmed it into a small craft I'm taking there." Devine responded proudly, securing the katana on her left hip. "What about supplies?" a different male spoke up. "There's also a castle waiting on Arus with supplies. All it needs are the lions." She supplied him an answer, but that still did not ease the group's worries.

"What about the Paladins?"

"I have some extra clothes that will help me blend in with them. Other than that, I think we'll get along very nicely." She crossed her arms over her chest with pride.

"What of the locals of Arus?"

Devine rolled her eyes at the question, pouting.

"They're a peaceful, primitive tribe of cute little creatures a third my size, I'm more likely to hug them than fight them." She placed both hands on her wide hips and glared at them.

"I'm not the same little one Master Ulaz brought in for training so long ago. He trained me just as hard as all of you have for the past few years! I'm faster, stronger, smarter, and far more skilled then when you first met me. I even have my own connections to help me bring down Zarkon." She smiled softly looking at each member who each took time to teach her something. They taught her how to fight hand to hand, use various weapons, to survive on several different types of planets, how to read and write in the Galra's language, among a few other things that interested her. They didn't have to, but they fed her thrust for knowledge and drive to understand the Galra culture all the same, she could feel how proud they were of her. Even making connections out side their secretive group to further expand their allies.

"You have yet to _land_ a simple spacecraft safely." Someone spoke up from behind the group, they all looked at their leader, with his arms crossed over his chest, Devine could tell he was feeling assured about that one little detail, making her roll her eyes. "I don't need to know how to pilot, Master Kolivan. I'm only going a few galaxies away and form there I will be support or back-up. It's not like the lions will choose me any way." She reasoned sadly.

"And what of the incident with the red lion?" He asked her, making her cringe at the memory of her first failed mission. "That was just a flute, I'm no paladin. The _true_ paladins will arrive on Arus in the next few Quintents, right in front of the Castel of Lions with The Blue Lion, Sapphire." She explained as their leader shook his head at the silly prediction. "Even if you do _not_ become a paladin of Voltron, I will not allow you to leave here without being able to land safely."

" _ **WHAT**_! You can't do that you're not the boss of- You're not my _DAD_! " She yelled, correcting herself but still getting an amused chuckle from the Blade's leader as he faced her. "I may not be your father young lady, but I am your Master. Ulaz left you in my care, and as a member of the Blade of Marmora, you will follow my orders. Do I make myself clear, _Little One?_ " He mocked her before leaving her glaring at his back, but he missed her lips fighting to pull up in a smirk.

' _You're not gonna stop me.'_

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine frowned as she looked at her back in the mirror, the top portion of her suit peeled off down to her waist, with a back exposing white top covering her chest and stomach. While on her back where hundreds of small, multi colored shards growing out of her skin.

"I just harvested two bags full yesterday." She pouted carefully pulling out a clear colored shard from her back, only to wince at the small pain it caused. "It'll be fine for the next few Quintents... hopefully…" She sighed as she looked around her semi dark room. A backpack was sitting on the bed, packed with a few supplies and a change of earth clothes, along with her Katana in its new sheath, and a belt with several pockets resting on top of her notebook and a book Ulaz had gifted her before he left to rescue the Champion, wanting to see the human before he would forget their shared experience.

Devine took a deep calming breath, letting it out slowly before slipping back into her suit again. She picked up the belt and slipped it across her body, placing the Katana on her back before she picked up her backpack and the books, heading for the door. It slipped open as she poked her head into the quiet hall way, looking both ways before completely leaving her room to make her way to the docking bay...

Leaving behind a simple note on her bed before finding small ship and prepare it to leave for Arus.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

" _Whew_ ~ That was easier then I thought it would be." Devine mussed as she set her bag into the cock pit before settling into the pilot seat, turning the ship on and checking the systems before it was closed behind her. A smile slowly bloomed on her lips as she turned on the auto pilot as it set a course for Arus. The engines came to life just as the hanger doors opened to the dark abyss of space. "I never thought I would ever be flying into outer space, or meeting soon to be _Legendary Defenders~_." She giggled, her mind wondering to the future paladins for a moment until a familiar purple face appeared on a communication screen, not looking to happy.

Devine let out a yelp of surprise before Kolivan started to speak.

"I don't know if I should be impressed or disappointed with you, _Little one_." He frowned at her, as she gave a nervous smile. "How about impressed?" she suggested but he ignore her response. "Regardless, you have been trained well by the other members and I see you are adamant about meeting these, _Paladins_. So you are free to do as you wish..."

"Yes! Thank you!" She cheered abruptly, but he did not stop speaking...

"So long as you do not crash into anything along your way." he finished and Devine quickly realized that it was a recording, before she could say anything lese the ship took off into space, the auto pilot disengaged but the coordinates still locked into the system. "Good Luck." Where his final words as the screen went blank, Devive desperately grabbing the rouge controls in panic, the accelerator blasting a max speed as she struggled to get control of the ship and suppress her fear of losing control.

From the dark control room Kolivan watched the ship disappear, its thrusters becoming one with the billions of stars around it before diapering from his perceived site within a few ticks. "Are you sure that was wise choice, Leader? Knowing who she truly is?" a masked blade member asked worriedly as the elder Galra closed his yellow eyes softly. "No, but we wouldn't be able to keep her from going regardless of who she is or isn't." he responded before walking away to his quarters.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

It seemed to be another peaceful day for the Arusians, harvesting the fruits that grew in the trees, children playing, women cleaning and cooking. All while their king shared the words of their Lion goddess with them. It was just like any other day on Arus and it was rather boring for one young male Arusian that was a few miles away from the lively village.

"Yah!" he gave a battle cry as he imagined fighting several bad guys with a stick that acted like his mighty sword. "Take that! You evil fiends! Ha! Ho! HA! Fall before my- might?" the Arusian trailed off as he heard a strange sound in the sky, looking up he saw a ship bellowing black smoke from one of its engines, barely skimming the tree tops before it plowed into the ground with great force.

"Invaders!" He squeaked out in panic, dropping his stick to run to his village, only to stop within a few feet as he realized something. "No! I am a brave warrior! And warriors do not run from danger." He declared, picking up his discarded stick before running to find the ship's crash site. Silently praying to the goddess that he would get her blessing for fighting bravely.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Quiznak~." Devine cursed as she separated herself from the console of the ship, red light flooding the cockpit along with smoke. "Why do I always mess up on the landing?" She grumbled before picking up her bag and kicking open the door letting the thick smoke out as she escaped. Once her feet hit the dirt she started run to a safe distance form a pending explosion.

"Hold it right there evil invad-ER?!" The Arusian warrior jumped in front of her, pointing his stick sword at her, only to be picked up hastily in her dash. The Arusian was confused and terrified at the dark, masked being that grabbed him, he didn't fight it as it threw it's rather soft and warm body over him, curing around him protectively for a few moments before looking back at the ship.

"It didn't explode?" just as she asked the ship blew up into tiny pieces and flames. "Spoke to soon." Devine sighed before looking down at the Arusian she had covered, her breasts slowly suffocating it. "Sorry! Are you okay?" She asked, quickly pulling away as the Arusian took a deep breath. "Are you hurt?" she asked as it seemed to catch its breath before it glared at her, nearly poking her mask with the stick.

"S-stay back invader! I am the Arusian's greatest warrior!" it declared, visibly trembling and stuttering. "I-I will not let y-you take my home!" he declared with as much confidence as he could. "Awww~." Devive cooed before putting her hands up with open palms."I'm not here to invade anyone." She then separated her ring and middle fingers on both hands to from a V. "I come in peace."

"Y-you look like an e-evil invader! I-i will not fall for your t-tricks!" it glared at her and flinched as she reached for her mask, taking it off to show her face before slipping off her hood in the process, letting her waist length white hair free to glow in the sun light. "Does this really look like a face of evil?" she asked him with a soft smile as he looked at her in awe, lowering the stick.

"What are you?" he asked confused and then startled as Devine stood up to her full height. "Well I was human, but now... I'm the liaison for The Paladins of Voltron." She announced proudly but only got a confused look form the Arusian. "What's a Voltron?" it asked, making Devine's eyes widen in surprise before she realized something.

"Oh! Right, your people have stories about a Lion Goddess."

"Y-you know the Lion Goddess!" Klyzap shouted in disbelief, looking up at the strange creature before him. "Well... no. I know **_of_** her, and that soon there will be five lions coming together in the sky to bring peace to the known universe." She told him as he looked at her with wide eyes and open mouth. "You... are you an oracle?" the Arusian asked unsurely as Devine bit her lip. "No, I just know how the universe will try and correct itself. It's been 10,000 years, so something must be in motion and I want to help with that." She told the little Arusian, looking down with a small smile holding out her gloved hand.

"Will you help me?" she asked as the small creature looked at her hand and then up at her face.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"How much longer is Sapphire gonna take?" Devine groaned as she lay out on the soft grass in the ruins of the Castle of Lion's courtyard. Sighing she looked up at the blue skies with fluffy white clouds scattered everywhere. It was the same sky she had stared at for the past two Quintents just waiting for the Blue Lion to deliver the Paladins to Arus to start off their grand destinies. The wait was painfully long despite entertaining herself and mingling with the odd Arusian natives before she became unconfutable with their king's rule. She took this extra time to think of what she would say to the young humans so far from home or anything familiar to Earth.

"I should really be softly friendly. They would be understandably scared and confused about all this. Hunk will want to go back, so a bit of positive encouragement would be good. Lance would fall for the sleeping cutie in the castle bit. Keith and Katie will be a bit harder, as for Shiro-" she trailed off, blushing as she thought of the handsome leader with a fond smile.

"He'll probably make sure they all stick together, hook him and I can get them all. I wonder... if he will even remember me?" She questioned before sitting up, looking at her hands that rested on top of her legs, clad in dark purple jeans, with her feet in gray and black sneaker like shoes, while a lavender tank top and utility belt were hidden under her favorite baggy black jacket, along with some fingerless black gloves, exposing the pointed, lavender colored shards that replaced her finger nails being part of her Human disguise. Nervously she twirled a finger in her lose white hair. At first glace just looks as white as fresh snow, but a closer look with bright light, the strands had a rainbow of colors while still being just as soft and thick as her original hair had been. She then set the strand behind her pointed ear, before rubbing at the white V shaped markings on her cheek bones, making her look like an Altean. An attempt to ease the still sleeping Alteans inside the locked castle into trusting her.

Turing golden eyes back to the sky for the trillionth time, she finally saw something a bit different. A speck that was slowly becoming larger or getting closer.

"Sapphire?" she called out standing up as she could see a four legged shape forming, it's colors nearly matching the sky until it got closer. The blue Lion's yellow eyes glowed in greeting as Devine's golden eyes glowed back in response hearing a roar of greeting resound inside her head, flowing threw her bones and over her skin. She shivered at the feeling but smiled once the Blue Lion was close enough to be seen clearly. The down draft the Lion made while landing blew at her clothes and hair as she admired its majesty.

"This... is... happening~" Devine grinned widely as the blue lion's paws hit the ground, making lose dirt and rocks jump from its sudden weight, her body was really glowing and her eyes where nearly sparking as the Lion's head came down to let out it's passengers. "Okay. Just relax Devine, no need to over whelm them on the first day." She spoke to herself, taking a deep breath and letting it out before putting on a clam smile as the Lion's mouth opened to let out it's passengers. Five pairs of eyes stared at her in confusion, making her slightly nervous, her smile damping as two pairs narrowed at her in suspicion as they disembarked the lion.

"It's about time you guys got here. Was getting worried you might have taken the wrong wormhole for a bit there." She said calmly, slightly joking as they all looked at her in surprise and confusion.

"Um? Does anyone else see the talking ball of light?" The Big yellow one, Hunk asked looking at her unsurely.

"Ball of light?" Devine questioned before she glanced at her hair and blushed as she saw it was giving off its own light. "Oh! Sorry, I kinda glow when I'm overly excited. You can call me Devine, and I will be your liaison for this little um... a _dventure_ into the final frontier." She announced with a bit of nervousness as they just stared at her, the glow diming to more reasonable levels as anxiety bubbled in her chest at their reactions.

"You knew we were coming?" The shortest one in green asked first, sounding surprised.

"Kinda. I was off by a few Quintents, but now that Sapphire's brought you-"

" _Sapphire_?" The scrawny one in blue, Lance interrupted in confusion, Devine stopped herself before biting her lip. "Yeah, it's kinda the name of the Blue Lion behind you. At least that's what I call her." She motioned to the lion as she closed her mouth once the humans where all clear. Devine could feel a soft purr reverberating through her body along with a warm feeling.

"Did you make this thing?" The One in red, Keith asked as he pointed a thumb back at the lion. "No, and _her_ name is _Sapphire_ , or _Safie_ if you want to make it cute and short." She frowned at Keith, crossing her arms as she gave him a stern look and he looked taken aback at her response.

"Okay... Devine, can you tell us why _Sapphire_ brought us here?" Shiro asked, making Devine light up again, as Shiro, the soon to be leader of Voltron and the new Black Paladin right before her. "To bright! To bright!" Pidge and the others quickly looked away before they where blinded, as Devine nervously dimed, embarrassed. "Sorry, about that. Safie brought all of you here to help defeat Emperor Zarkon, and end his long tyrannical reign of terror over the known universe." She told them seriously as they looked at her with wide eyes.

"Nope! Sorry, I think you have the wrong guys in a blue lion. So... how do we get back to Earth?" Hunk asked nervously as Devine shook her head. "Sorry to disappoint, but Earth is several trillion light-years away, it would be easier to just face Zarkon then try and go back to Earth. Either way you will still have to face him." she explained and she could feel Hunk was nervous and scared.

"So we will have to face Zarkon, now or later." Shiro asked, as Devine nodded grimly. "Yes, Sapphire and four other lions, with suitable paladins, are needed to from the legendary mecha, Voltron."

"Wow, you sure know a lot about this stuff for such a little kid." Lance was saying as he reached out a hand to pat Devine on the head as if she was a child. She flinched when she saw his hand reach for her head, she grabbed his wrist with a firm hold, giving him an annoyed glare and low growl out of reflex.

"I am **_NOT_** a little kid, even by your planet's standards." She corrected him, giving his wrist a good squeeze before letting it go. The blue paladin cupped his wrist and looked at her with slight fear. "Right, you're a strong... whatever you are." Lance said unsurely, looking at the odd collection of human and non human traits Devine had exposed. "I'm human... or... mentally I'm still kinda am.." she sheepishly admitted, tucking her hands into the jacket pockets, this got their interest just as expected.

"You're human? W-what happened to you?" Pidge asked, looking a bit paler, along with Shiro who clenched his Galra prosthetic arm. Devine looked away from them, admiring the castle for the hundredth time before looking at Shiro and then down at his arm. "You got the much nicer end of the Druids experimentations... and I rather not remember my experience with them either." She let out a sigh, cringing at the phantom feeling of needles plunging into her skin. Shiro looking at her in confusion but still understanding the sentiment.

"We so not prepared for this." Hunk voiced before turning to the blue lion."Excuse me, Miss Sapphire, but could you take me home now... please?" he pleaded with the still lion, fear clearly coming off him. "You can't leave now. The Princess is still waiting inside the castle, and it's rude to make a lady, let alone royalty wait." Devine declared, nearly smirking as Lance's attention was caught. "Princess?" He question eagerly, Devine had to bite her lip to stop from smiling, pointing at large doors of the Castel of Lions.

"Yes. She's been asleep in her castle since Zarkon's evil reign began. Waiting for her pla-"

"Say no more! Hold on princess, your prince is on his way!" Lance yelled confidently as he made his way across the bridge eagerly, not waiting for her to finish her prepared pitch. ' _Got'em!'_ Devine mentally cheered as she looked at the others expectantly.

"What about the rest of you?" she asked as she walked over to her backpack and sword picking them up from their spot in the soft grass. Hearing some whispers from behind her, about her existence being to _convenient_. Devine frowned as she felt Keith's distrust, but reasoned her own worry away quickly. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick." Hunk voiced, holding his upset stomach that gave a loud protest. This propped Devine to reach into her bag and pull out three things wrapped in leaves, holding them out to the large paladin in offering. "Here. This should help your stomach settle a little." Hunk looked at it with confusion.

"What is it? Can Human's eat this?" he asked worriedly as he took one, looking unsure. "Of course, it's a local treat made from the pulp of fruits and something akin to bread. It has a citrusy taste to it but the bead is a little sweet and the green leaf wrapping keeps it nice and soft." She explained, but the big guy seemed hesitant. Devine opened one and took a small bite out of the little delight, chewing then swallowing it quickly to speak.

"See, nothing to worry about." She tried to assure him as he unwrapped it and took a small bite, ignoring the childish temptation to act poisoned. Devine didn't hide her smile as his eyes lit up with surprise and the rest was quickly gone. "That was good, you got any more?" He asked, looking eager for another taste of the Arusian treat. "Hunk." Shiro scolded his gluttony, but Devine just laughed softly. "No worries, I have the recipe memorized, and I can always get more from the locals." She smiled as she gave Hunk another treat and finished her own.

"Besides I think two will be enough to settle his stomach away. Would you guys like some too?" she asked before they agreed to try it as well, also delighted with the taste. "It's not bad." Keith wrote it off, pouting all the same when the treat was gone.

"How long have you been here?" Shiro asked, finishing his treat almost as fast as the others. "Not long, the locals are friendly so there wasn't much trouble." She explained, putting away Lance's share for later, but she did not miss Hunk eyeing the treat. "What's with the sword then?" Keth asked, suspicious as he eyed her weapon with some interest. "Just because this planet is safe and peaceful doesn't mean they all are." She reasoned, looking over her shoulder at the sheathed katana, the Blade of Marmora insignia glittering in the sunlight. "So you've actually used it?" Pidge asked looking a little confused. "Not this one yet, but I've used other swords and weapons too." She informed the smallest paladin.

"Where did you get it?" Keith asked, looking a tad more interested, but Devine just gave a sad smile. "Sorry, that's a secret. Speaking of which..." She pressed an index finger to the tip of Hunk's nose as his eyes where wide in surprise at being caught trying to get Lance's treat out of her bag. "It's not polite to go through other people's things, young man." She scolded him as Hunk gave a nervous chuckle under the disapproving looks.

"Right. Sorry." He apologized nervously, glancing at Pidge for a moment before nervously scratching the back of his head. "It really helped to settle my stomach." Devine just gave him a kind smile. "You're welcome, but please don't try that again. Even if you return the _items_ it's still very rude." She scolded him knowingly, making the large boy pale in fear and feel a bit creped out by her words.

"Let's catch up to _Prince Phillip_ before he hurts himself trying to open those doors." She suggested making her way to a struggling Lance.

"What was that about?" Pidge asked, curious, making Hunk stiffen at the question. "Ah, probably nothing to worry about, let's go get those really big doors open." Hunk raced after her, leave the other three confused before the blue Lion let out a loud roar, startling them all as the large doors to the castle slowly started opening, letting them inside the dark castle.

"It's a good thing you glow in the dark." Lance mussed as the glow Devine admitted, lighting up the castle's massive foyer, letting them see every detail of the ancient Altean castel.

"HELLO!" Hunk shouted out into the castle, creating an eco threw out the empty, dark halls. The humans turned to glare at him, for alerting whatever _could_ have been in the castle, but only air was disturbed. "Don't worry, the only in things in this castle are us and those still in the status pods." Devine assured them but tensed as a triangle section of the floor beneath them glowed under their feet.

- _Hold for Identity scan.-_

' _Quiznack.'_ Devine cursed as they were all scanned by the computer, she held her breath and held very still as her body was scanned, her blood running cold as it ended… and nothing really happened besides the lights of the castle switched on and directed them to the status pods... where Princess Allura and Coran still slept. "This way, but be careful. Some security proto call may have been activated." Devine lead them down the hall, looking for any signs that she was going to be attacked, relaxing a tad as they came to the status chamber.

"What is this place?" Lance asked as he entered after Devine who made a b-line for the control panel in the room. It lit up at her touch, a holographic screen displaying unfamiliar characters to her as she took a moment to try and understand the Altean characters. "It looks like a control room, but it seems a little dark." Pidge mentioned as the rest of them entered, Devine trying several buttons before two capsules rose up from the floor, startling the future Paladins.

"What are those? Are those people inside? Are they dead!?" Hunk panicked as he could make out the Altean's forms frozen inside the pods. "No just asleep, but it's time to wake the princess and her aid." Devine smiled as she pressed another button to defrost the princess, walking over to her pod as it opened.

"Father!" She gasped desperately, reaching out to the late king as a much delayed reflex, falling forward out of her pod. "Whoa there princess. Take it easy there. You've been in there a long time." Devine caught the princess before she could hit the floor, her body tense before looking at the face of an unfamiliar looking Altean. "Who are you? Where are we?" she asked, looking a bit scared and reasonably confused as Devine helped her get steady. "I am called Devine, and we are in the Castel of Lions. There is no need to be scared." She tried to assure the princess, slowly getting rid of her fear with a soft smile.

"Hello~ Princess, I'm Lance." Lance came from behind Shiro, trying to be swave as he hit on the princess who just stared at him with wide eyes.

"Your ears." She mentioned and Lance looked to the side in confusion.

"Yeah?"

"Their hideous! What's wrong with them!?" the princess yelled as she turned away from him in disgust. Devine bit her lip trying to suppress her mirth at the exchange and Lance's horrified reaction. "Nothing! They heard exactly what you said about them!" He shot back but was too slow as the princess grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back; bringing the lanky boy to his knees. "Who are you!? Where is King Alfor!? Why are you in my castle!?" the princess demanded from Lance who was in pain from the very well done arm lock she was using on him.

As amusing as it was, Devine knew she had to get the princess off the new blue paladin.

"Actually princess, it was the blue lion that brought them here, and granted us entrance into the castle." She explained calmly over Lance's whimpering, the princess looked at her with wide eyes, seeming to trust her words. "How do you have the blue lion? Where is its Paladin? What are all of you doing here?" she asked, looking at the other humans in the room, Devine could feel her panic rise as something came to her mind as she let go of Lance's arm.

"How long has it been?" Allura asked, looking shaken as she made her way to the control panel. "How about you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help." Shiro suggested helpfully as Hunk was still hiding behind him. "Right, how rude of me. I am Princess Allurra of planet Altea. Now, i've got to know how long we've been asleep." The princess mentioned, a little calmer as she operated the control panel with Pidge watching with curiosity and amazement at the holographic screens.

Devine gently bit her lip before speaking up to deliver the bad news to Allura.

"Princess, you've been asleep long enough for the grand stories of Voltron to become mere myths in the minds of the known universe." The princess looked at her with disbelieving eyes. "What? No! That simply cannot be true." She denied as she franticly looked for evidence on the control panel.

"Enemy Combatants!" Devine heard Coran yell as he fell out of his pod, everyone except the princess looking at him. "Quiznak! You're lucky I have a case of the old _Sleep Chamber Knees._ Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this, wrap you up like so, and... one, two, three, sleepy time!" The older male Altean, Coran boasted, demonstrating something that looked like a sleeper hold.

"Oh Yeah? Well, before you did that, I'd..." Lance made some weird motion that tried to imitate a marshal art move of some kind. "Like that."

"Really? How could you do that when I've already come at you with this? Ha, ha, ha, hey!" Coran made some over the top marshal arts looking moves, the whole scene made Devine cringe at all the errors they made in their movements and stance. "These guys are really good." Hunk admired his friend and the Altean putting on a show, but Devine ran her hand down her face in annoyance. "Not to anyone that knows **_actual_** Marshal arts forms." She spoke up, getting Corans attention.

"A hostage! You fiends!" the goofy Altean quickly put himself between Devine and the Paladins. "Not to worry little one, Uncle Coran will protect you!" he declared, confident as she saw the humans start to look scared, but not of him. As behind him, Devine extruded smokey gray sparks from her body as her ember eyes narrowed angrily at the Altean's back. She disliked anyone, besides her masters, calling her _Little one_.

"I am... **_NOT! A CHILD_**!"

She roared out angrily as she japed her pointer and middle finger into Coran's spine, unleashing a non lethal dose of the smokey gray sparks into his body.

"AH! Surprise attack from the rear!" he yelled as he felt the sparks spark his hair and mustache before her fell forward onto the floor, twitching from the shock. The paladins looked down at Coran before looking up at Devive with wide disbelieving eyes. "Anyone else still think I'm a child?" she asked, holding up her hand to create more sparks as she gave them a sharp tooth devilish grin. They no longer thought she was a child, and knew she could be rather scary when angry.

"Dude, is he dead?" Lance asked as he poked Coran, but the Altean didn't seem to respond. "He's still alive. I just gave him enough of a shock to hurt a little." She explained but nudged the Altean with her foot to find a response of some kind.

'Quiznack! _Did I_ ** _KILL_** _Coran!?'_ she thought worriedly before the princess spoke. "This can't be." She sounded in distress, and that prompted Coran to stop playing dead. "What is it Allura?" he asked, looking at the princess worriedly. "We've been asleep for 10,000 years!" The princess distress was dominating the room, Devine bit her lip hard enough to bleed as the feeling of despair, loss, panic and anxiety over came her. The princess and Coran being the main sources almost made her fall to her knees under it all.

"Planet Altea... and all the planets in our solar system... have been destroyed." Allura delivered the crushing news to the older Altean, Devine knew what came next but was not prepared for how strong the emotion would be.

"Coran.. father is gone." The princess broke the news, and their emotions floored Devine in the process. The pressure knocking the air right out of her lungs as she lay on the floor, the panic from the five paladins didn't even register it was so strong.

"Hey are you okay?" Hunk asked first, hesitantly grabbing her gently to help her sit up.

"Why did you suddenly fall over?" Pidge asked, looking confused and concerned. Lance and Keith hovered close as did Shiro who seemed to be the only calm one but still very concerned about her. "Y-yeah, I'm just a little... receptive, to strong emotions." She told them, choking on some air before feeling something like joy and excitement helping her breath a little easier.

"You're an Altean! and an Empath! That's very rare ability for Altean, the last one was actually Allura's mother!" Coran praised looking impressed, but the princess was only soothed from her underlying pain for a moment. "Yes, it's good to know some of our people survived." Allura gave a sad smile, and Devine didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. She blinked in confusion as an orange handkerchief was suddenly in her face. "Here, you got a spot of blood right there." Coran offered pointing to the corner of his slightly frizzed mustache. Devine was touched by the gesture but it was quickly smothered by the thought of him only being nice because they thought she was Altean. Regardless she took the offering and wiped the odd dark purple blood from her lip.

"But he's not-OW!" Keith hopped on one foot as the other had been pounded by Devine's fist suddenly. "Thank you, but I'm afraid I'm only part Altean. You would be hard pressed to find someone that is even 1/64 Altean with the destruction of Altea scattering them all." She told them, giving them a reasonable thought of hope, and she wasn't lying about being part Altean after all. "It's alright. The destruction of our civilization is all because of _Zarkon_." Allura hissed the named angrily making Devine gag at the strength. "Sorry." Allura's emotion quickly went to worry, but the anger was still under it as Devine gasped for air.

"Zarkon?" Shiro questioned, slight distress was on his face as he seemed to remember something. "The King of the Galra, a vile creature and Enemy to all free people." Allura told them as she looked worriedly at a passed out Devine, the emotions having been too much for her. "Uh? Guys I don't think he's breathing." Pidge voiced as he noticed Devine go slack in Hunk's hold, looking for a pulse on her wrist.

"He's alive, I can feel a pulse." Pidge announced, curious about their liaison.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine cringed as she rolled off her back and onto her side with a pained moan, gaining the attention of the Paladins.

"She's up!" someone cried out but Devine cringed as despair was still strong in the Alteans, the emotions feeling like a hangover. "Not so loud please." She pleaded, slowly sitting up and rubbing her head at the pain before cracking and eye open to see the Paladins looking relived. "Are you all right? You just passed out." Shiro asked, his worry touching as she used her feelings of joy help to wash away the despair. "Y-yeah, just wasn't too prepared for so much strong, negative emotions all at once." She assured them, taking slow, deep breaths.

"Well you can take my breath away anytime~." Devine blinked as she looked at Lance who was giving her a sly smile... it almost looked like he was flirting with her. "What?" she blurted out but Lance only smirked. "No need to be shy, there is plenty of Lance to love and admire~." He boasted, as he gave her a supposed to be seductive look but it just creped her out more as she scooted away from him.

"Okay, why is he acting so weird?" she asked before realizing her jacket was completely open, exposing her rather impressive assets, covered by a thin, gray tank top. " _WHO UNZIPPED MY JACKET_!" she shouted with a heavy blush, quickly zipping it back up and crossing her arms over her chest as the male paladins all looked away, looking guilty.

"It was Shiro." Pidge rated the older paladin out. "He wanted to make sure you could breath but..."

"We thought you were a guy this whole time, but I thought you were beautiful from the moment I laid eyes on you." Lance commented, making Devine shiver. "Please stop, it's getting _a little_ creepy." She asked him, making the others sniffle a laugh at the blue paladin's pout; she could feel his slight hurt that quickly pierced her heart. "Not that you're bad looking, but I don't think you're over 18 just yet." She mentioned as it seemed to pacify him. "Thank you." Lance smirked at Keith, looking smug about something as the red paladin looked unimpressed.

"Come to think of it, I never asked for your names in all the excitement." Devine mentioned, looking at them with curious eyes, she knew their names but it would be creepy and hard to explain how she knew them.

"Oh right, well I'm Lance, the handsome one." Lance introduced himself with a smirk, making Devine bite her lip to suppress a snort, the handsome one for her was defiantly Shiro. "I'm Pidge, and the big guy is Hunk." Pidge smiled at her, and pointed her thumb at Hunk who was near her bag, suspiciously hiding something from her. "Keith." The red paladin responded, but seemed more interested in her sword that he held by the sheath. "And you can call me Shiro, Miss Devine." Shiro gave her a handsome smile that soothed her brain with clam and her own passion for the once fictional character made the pain go away.

"I'm Coran!" The older Altean popped into their group with a smile as he had a tray holding a two bowls, one with goop and a spoon as the other had something that looked like sliver candy wrappers. He offered a handful to the empath who took them in her hand in confusion. "Eat one of these; it should help will the emotional overload. They where Queen Amora's favorite." He mentioned her head throbbed in pain, she quickly unwrapped the blood red colored disk before popping it into her mouth. Devine's eyes went wide at the very familiar taste that washed over her tongue.

' _Is this? Wine?'_ She questioned as Coran went up to Allura worriedly with the other bowl. "Princess, you must eat. It's been 10,000 years." He pleaded but the princess was still at the control panel, trying to catch up on the current status of the universe, whatever she was finding was not good.

"I'm not hungry." Allura said, not looking away from the numerous screens she pulled up."Man, 10,000 years... that's like 1,000 plus 10." Lance voiced in slight amazement, but Keith was not. "That's times ten." He corrected as Lance glared at him.

"Whatever _drop out_." Lance snubbed the red paladin as his grip on her sword tightened.

"Save the fighting for Zarkon you two. Keith hand me my sword please." Devine scolded, getting off the floor to walk over to Hunk and Keith, getting her sword from the red paladin before being handed her bag by Hunk who was interested in the goo Allura had rejected. "Since the princess is not gonna eat this, and if it's safe for human concussion..." Hunk trailed off as he looked at Devine for an answer.

"I'm surprised your still hungry. You threw up like five times and had _three_ of those pastries." Pidge ratted out Hunk who gave an apologetic smile to Devine as she sighed; already figuring he would eat the last one. "It's edible, but lacks a lot of taste." She warned him but the big guy ate it anyway, finding out for himself how tasteless Altean goo was, especially after 10,000 years.

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology ten thousand years ago." Shiro admitted, looking around in admiration. "It must have been an incredible place."

"Yes, it was... but now that's gone and who knows where the remaining Alteans could be." Coran responded and looked at Devine as did the princess with looks of some hope. "Sorry. I wouldn't know too much about that." she admitted, inwardly hoping there really had been more Altean survivors. "What about your parents? Surely one of them has a connection to another Altean or two." Allura asked, reaching for something as Devine bit her lip nervously, looking away. "My parents... my family, are dead, princess." She admitted hesitantly as she clenched her fists inside her jacket, the phantom feeling of a knife in her hand and hot blood running over her skin and clothes came to mind, before it was banished as soon as it came.

Devine filched as she felt two pairs of arms wrap around her, Coran and Allura hugging her to give her comfort like they need, only to make her uncomfortable. Devine could feel their emotions more clearly with the close contact, tears forming in her eyes as she pulled her hands out of the hug sandwich, and placed them on both Altean's backs... letting out a soothing white mist from her skin and letting it flow into their bodies.

"They died many years ago, I've had a lot of time to grieve, and not all of Altea was lost." She looked at the princess, gently brushing away a tear form her pink markings, making them glow slightly. Allura's teal eyes widen as she saw a happy memory from when she was a child, letting out a small gasp.

"You didn't go into the sleep chamber alone princess." Devine mentioned as there was a small squeak from one of the pods. Allura quickly approached the pod, kneeling down to let four small mice jump into her hands and squeak their greetings happily.

"Yes, it seems there is still hope in the universe." The princess smiled as she stood up with the mice, making her a bit happier.

"Thank you, for making Allura smile." Coran thanked Devine gratefully before the alarms blared, a spike in panic filled the room that turned from a calming blue to an alert red. The older Altean looked at the screen with worry.

"A Galra battleship has locked on to our location!" He declared as nearly everyone stood around the computer. "How did they find us so quickly?" Allura asked Coran, but the humans and Devine had an idea how. "I'm not sure, but I bet it's all Keith's fault." Lance deflected, crossing his arms in defense.

"Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better." Keith glared at Lance from the corner of his eye before turning towards the blue paladin with enmity. "After getting all of us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!" Keith blamed him as Lance glared back at his fellow paladin. "I'll stick you in a wormhole!" Lance shot back as both took steps towards each other, ready to fight each other.

"Lance! Keith! Now is not the time to argue over who's at fault." She scolds them as Shiro got between them, pushing them apart. "Miss Devine's right, cadets. It's time for all of us to work as a team." Shiro scolded them, both boys feeling shame under the older Paladin's disapproval.

"How long before they arrive?" Shiro asked Coran who was looking at his fingers, counting something."At their current speed? Well I say, carry the two..." he muttered working out his math. "A scientific calculation would be a lot more appreciated here, Coran." Devine reasoned, knowing he was just making up inaccurate numbers.

"Oh! Right, let me see here. They will arrive in precisely..." Coran typed on the console and gasped in horror.

"Two Vargas!" he shouted, confusing the humans, but Devine understood how long they actually had.

"It's gonna be real close, but we only need to find the Yellow and Green lions." Devine muttered to herself as she got odd looks from the Alteans. "How do know that? And what of the red lion? Do you know where it is?" Allura asked, looking impressed and worried about someone else knowing where the lions where.

Devine stiffened as all eyes were on her, biting her lip nervously.

"Well... Sapphire, the Blue lion, brought them here." She mentioned to the Paladins. "The stories of old say the Black lion, was sealed away in this castle." She looked down at her feet, hesitating on talking about the red lion.

"Ruby, the red lion... is on that Galra battleship." she added, looking away shamefully.

" ** _WHAT_**!" Coran and Allura shouted in alarm, panic blasting from the two Alteans, nearly knocking Devine over. "How did they get their evil claws on Ruby!?" Coran asked using the name Devine gave the lion, looking at the empath for the answer.

"Is this really important right now? We need to find the Yellow and Green lions still. I only know from the stories that yellow is practically buried under ground, and green is in some thick jungle area." She tried to deflect but Keith just had to be curious.

"How did they get the Red lion?" he asked her, noticing how she bit her lip when she was not staying something, like she was doing now. "It doesn't matter, we have very little time to locate, find, and bring back the other two lions. Then we can just take back the red lion and form Voltron. Together we will destroy the Galra Empire!" the princess said confidently,

"Princess, how are we gonna find the last two Lions?" Shiro asked, Allura who gave off confidence and certainty with a smile.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** If you're actually reading these notes, please know that this story is mostly meant to be a therapeutic outlet for me as I suffer from _**Depression**_ and a few other mental issues. Writing/composing some of these stories is one way I cope with my issues. Please no flaming if you review, this is not written to be a very good story and may be a little confusing at times. More like this may come and will likely have similar or additional warnings in the summaries.


	2. Chapter 2, A Bight Future, No Regrets

_**Dark Abyss**_

The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders!

 _ **WARRING!: Mentions of suicide, self harm, and abuse**_.

* * *

 _ **~Chapter 2, A Bight Future, with No Regrets~**_

They were all lead to the main deck of the castle, as Princess Allura stood on a raised platform in the middle of the large room under soft teal light coming from the large crystal handing overhead, lighting up the room along with Devine's excited white glow as she eagerly took in the site of the room. Allura closed her eyes to concentrate on the missing lions, everyone watching with bated breath while watching her reach out to the lions.

"King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force, so she is key to locating the other lions." Coran explained with pride. Devine however, looked a little nervous about the information that sparked her curiosity. _'Is that why he locked her away? So the lions could return? Or was it so she could live?'_ She questioned the ancient king's motives, connecting his daughter to the robotic lions of Voltron seemed a little odd... or desperate. ' _And when did it happen? Before or after Zarkon turned?'_ she wondered, a little concerned for the princess in regards to the Black Lion.

Allura opened her eyes suddenly as the room was filled with a 3D map of the universe, stars, planets, and galaxies scattered threw out the room creating a beautifully breathtaking sight. "So cool~." Devine grinned as she looked at all the different planets, a few she knew they would travel to, some she had trained on, and many more she had never seen before.

"There's _Puiga_ , so _Olkarion_ should be over here. Oh! _Naxzela_ looks so cute like this~! and _Taujeer_!" Devine moved through the map of the stars and planets freely. "Now where is _Daibazaal_?" she questioned softly to herself, wondering around the star map as the others just stood in aw. "These look like coordinates." Pidge noticed while observing some of the planets passing by as the image of Arus moved past the green paladin, the images of Sapphire and the Black lion along with it. "And it looks like Miss Devine was right. Sapphire and the Black lion are in the same location." The future green paladin pointed out.

"Just look at your primitive synapses firing away in that little brain cage of yours." Coran mussed with his arms crossed over his chest as he dotted on Pidge. "You're very observant. The Black Lion is indeed inside the castle." Allura complemented Pidge, and amused by Devine's excited glow as she moved from planet to planet, looking for a certain one. "Yes. King Alfor had the Black lion locked away in the castle in order to keep it out of Zarkon's hands." Coran explained, confidently as he opened his mouth to explain more only to have Devine beat him to it. "And as a security measure, it can only be freed when the other four lions are present, and willingly unlock the doors to her hanger." She recited without thinking of the consequences.

" _Willingly_? Aren't they just giant robot cats" Keith questioned, confused as Devine realized her slip.

"Nope. They all have minds and wills of their own, especially Ruby." She responded calmly before turning to the paladins, coming down from her excitement. "Their bodies maybe robotic, but they are the products of the greatest minds of Altea form over 10,000 years ago. Not to mention they are made from a reality bending comet that crashed into-." Devine was explaining before she noticed their surprised and amazed looks as they looked up at her. "Ah? Did I say too much?" she asked shyly before looking slightly up at the remains of a very familiar planet. " _Daibazaal_! I didn't think it would be this far away. It's practically on... the edge of ... oh!" Devive blushed as she realized she was floating several feet in the air, an arms length away from the high ceiling.

" _ **YOU CAN FLY**_!" The paladins all shouted in amazement and surprise as she gave a sheepish grin, slowly lowering herself to the floor. "More like levitating actually. It's a big help in zero gravity, especially if you don't have any thrusters." She explained as Lance approached her. "Where did you learn to do that?" Lance asked an eager grin on his face. "I trained under several masters, and one of them taught me how. I'm... not sure if I can teach it to other's though." She admitted disappointing Lance and from what she could tell, Keith had been eager to learn it as well.

"Miss Devine is right. The lions do have to choose their pilot to create a mystical bound that cannot be made threw force." Allura picked up, smiling as she grew more hopeful. "The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in the lion and together they form a bond far greater than anything science can ever explain."Allura grabbed the image of the Black lion, looking at it sadly.

"The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation." She sent the image of the Black Lion towards the older paladin. "That is why, Shiro. You will pilot the Black Lion." Shiro seemed to stand straighter with pride, looking all the more handsome. Devine bit her lip as she blushed, just watching the events unfold as Allura grabbed the Green lion.

"The Green Lion is inquisitive and needs a pilot with intellect and daring." She sent the green lion over to the smallest Paladin. "Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion." Pidge looked at the image with child like wonder; Devine could not help but feel happy for the young paladin.

"The Blue Lion-"

"Hold up, let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?" " Lance cut off Allura as she grabbed the blue lion. He smirked proudly, trying to impress the princess once again, but Allura was not amused by his interruption. "Well... Blaytz, was pretty handsome in his own way, so he's not completely wrong." Devine commented off handedly, earning shocked looks from both Alteans.

"You know about the pervious paladins!?" Coran questioned her, a slight edge to his voice, as Devine flinched. "O-only a few off the top my head. As for Sapphire..." Devine looked at Lance with a soft smile. "Sapphire is friendly, stubborn and loyal; she will only allow someone who has unwavering loyalty to those they care about to pilot her." Devine mentioned as she nudged the blue lion to a stunned and blushing Lance.

"I think Miss Devine broke Lance with that one." Pidge mussed as the others chuckled at the blue Paladian's speechlessness.

"The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own." Allura took hold of the yellow lion, looking at it fondly. "His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and help hold them all together." She sent the Yellow Lion towards Hunk who pointed at himself in confusion, silently asking if he was the pilot of the Yellow Lion. "Yeah big guy, you're a leg." Devine chuckled as she informed Hunk, but she stiffened as the princess took hold of the red lion, holding it in her hands for bit longer in fondness.

"The Red Lion is temperamental, and the most difficult lion to pilot. It's faster and more agile than the others, but it is also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on their instincts rather than mere skill alone." Allura let the red lion float away from her, Devine shutting her eyes in fear as the princess did not speak for a moment. Missing how the red lion's image swung slightly between her and the last Paladin for a moment before going to the antsy teen.

"Keith, you will pilot the Red Lion."

Devine opened her eyes and was relieved to see it had gone to Keith, who looked at the lion with pride as he smirked confidently. "What? This guy?" Lance asked in disbelief, making Keith's smirk disappear, as he glared at Lance who glared right back at him. "Once all the lions are united, you will all form Voltron. The most powerful warrior ever known, The Defender of the Universe." Allura explained, preventing the two from fighting as the planets disappeared, leaving only the lions to float in a V formation before their images changed into the final form of Voltron towering over them.

"Cool~."

"Awesome."

"Whoa."

"Wow."

They all looked at the image of Voltron in admiration before it disappeared.

"Wait. Okay, so we're going to be out there and flying lions. Got that part." Hunk spoke up, still looking concerned and unsure of the whole event. "How do lions turn into legs? Is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?" Hunk asked as he raised his hand like he was waiting to be called on by a teacher. "Sapphire and Yellow fold and attach to the hind legs of the Black lion. Taking down an evil ruler and his massive empire tend to take a while, so going now is a good idea. Also Alteans have a very human like waste management system, so any adjustments should be minimal." Devine chuckled as she answered Hunk's questions with ease.

The other's just looked at her in stunned silence before Shiro took charge.

"Alright then, we don't have much time to spare so Pidge and I will go after the Green lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the Yellow Lion." Shiro looked at the other two boys before he looked at Keith.

"Keith, you stay here until we get back. I don't want you going into that battle ship alone." Shiro gave a stern order to the younger male who opened his mouth to protest, before Devine placed a hand on Keith arm. "Don't worry, I'll keep him out of trouble while you're gone." She assured him with a smile and small blush. The way Shiro took command only added to his attractiveness, along with the grateful smile he was giving her, but Keith eyed her wearily. "In the meantime, I'll get the castle's defenses ready. They'll be sorely needed to hold off that battleship long enough to get the Red lion and from Voltron." Allura added helpfully, as Coran piped up as well. "I'll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion" he spoke to Shiro and Pidge who was looking a little unsure.

"Alright, let's head out." Shiro nodded and was heading out of the main deck with Pidge and Coran, Lance and Hunk following behind shortly.

Devine was quietly recalling how their missions went, and hoping nothing would change. Suppressed her fear as she recalled the calming river ride to the Green Lion and then the dangerous skirmish for the Yellow Lion, feeling guilty for being partly responsible for the Yellow Lion's discovery after finding Ruby. Allura was running a systems check from the dais, leaving Keith free to integrate their _liaison_ as he rounded on her.

"How do you know the red lion is on that battleship?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared down at her. Keith noticed her tensing up, biting her lip and being quite for a bit too long. "You had something to do with it, didn't you?" he guessed, as Devine seemed to get more nervous. "You called the other lions by color, but the blue and red lions are the only ones you gave a weird name too."

' _Quiznack! He noticed that?'_ she cursed as Keith placed a hand on her shoulder and forced her to look at him. She could clearly feel his distrust and anger as he held her firmly in place.

"Y-yeah, I went looking for the lion's at some point, but… so where four Galra commanders." She admitted not looking him in the eye, Keith could feel her shaking a little and the air around them seemed to warm up quickly. "One went down just _trying_ to get to Ruby. Then again active volcanoes are a dangerous force of nature, let alone a whole planet full of them, spitting giant fire balls at odd internals made navigation almost impossible." She admitted, remembering the unsanctioned mission she had done with three willing Blade of Marmora members to find the lions herself, finding Ruby a bit little too easily before being found by a certain Galra commander.

Keith's eyes wavered slightly as he suddenly saw strange images in his mind. Three figures, dressed in ominous looking suits, then four battleships, one taking a hit form a giant fire ball that was launched from one of the many pools of lava on a fiery planet. Keith let go of Devine as the heat was getting more unusual, backing away from her."How did they get it then?" he asked, crossing his arms again, a strange tingle in his fingers. Devine sighed as she looked him in the eyes. "I fell form our ship after disarming one of their commanders. Ruby saved me before I could become extra crispy." closing her eyes as she remembered the unfiltered fear and glee she felt.

A beloved Blade member being captured by _**Sendak**_ , she just reacted by slicing off his still flesh and blood left arm, and then chucking her body at him to give her comrades a chance to escape. Devine had long resigned herself to death, plummeting into a pit of lava was not gonna be quick or painless, yet after a few ticks of falling the red lion came to her rescue, springing out of the lava to scoop her into it's cockpit.

"We took out two ships before I blacked out. After that... they must have picked us up. I escaped with some help but we had to leave Ruby behind or risk getting caught again." She mentioned, looking away in shame as she bit her lip, not sure about sharing any additional information. "That's why it wavered between us." Keith mentioned as Devine cringed at the fact. "Probably, but you're the one who's really worthy of piloting her Keith." she told him, grabbing his hands in between her own, a white mist flowing from her skin into his. Keith's eyes widen as he felt something strange enter him as soon as she touched his bare skin, and smiled encouragingly at him.

"You just need to be a little more open and have a bit more patients to focus clearly." Devine felt Keith's surprise as she rubbed her thumbs over the back of his hands gently. "You will be a great pilot, and someday... a great leader as well." She beamed but quickly felt Keith's discomfort before he took his hands away from her. "I'm... going to the bathroom." He said quickly and made his way out of the main deck. Devine took a deep breath and slowly let it out, having taking too many gambles on the outcome of many events yet to come, except for maybe one.

"You know who the pervious Black paladin was... don't you?" Allura asked as the computer slowly ran the tests on the monitor in front of her. The princess didn't need to turn around for Devine to know she was uneasy. "Yes, but I don't want that kind of information to plague their minds any more then you do. It could make forming Voltron, and their trust in Shiro, far more difficult than it needs to be." Devine mentioned with a frown, thinking of Shiro's eventual battle with Zarkon over control of the black lion.

"Do you think the Black Lion will except him?" Allua asked worriedly, and empath didn't blame her. "I'm sure she will. Where is she anyway?" she asked the princess, curious and eager to meet the Lion of the Sky. There were some strange stories about the Black lion attacking certain planets long ago, but she could never find reliable information since it was so long ago.

"Take the elevator down to the docking bay, it will be the only one locked." The princess told her before going back to the system check. "Good luck." The princess whispered as Devine made her way to meet the black lion.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Devine panicked a little as she could no longer feel the other paladins, but quickly assured herself as the elevator slowly descended to the docking bays. "They just entered the wormholes; they'll be back in with the Sapphire, Yellow and Green in time." She paced a hand over her heart that was starting to race with nerves. "They will make it." She closed her eyes softly as the elevator stopped and the door opened to the dark docking bays.

"Here we go." she gulped, forcing herself to take several steps into the dark abyss, the light from the elevator helping a little before the doors closed leaving her completely in the dark. She let out a small whimper at being almost completely blind, feeling no other life forms besides herself in the large, empty feeling hanger. Unnerved she tried thinking of Shiro, how warm and strong his quintessence felt when she reached out to him, his smile, his strength, his compassion, and his authority where all tucked into a very handsome package.

Devine shivered as she lit up the room with her soft while glow, biting her entire bottom lip. Blushing as she thought about his lips, running her hands under his shirt or down his-

' ** _WHO GOES THERE!'_**

Devine yelped as she was knocked to the floor, a sudden strong force having pushed her. "S-shiro!?" she questioned, having strangely heard the Paladin's voice... at least in her mind as she felt something strange reaching out to her.

' _ **I am not that flesh bag you find so attractive.'**_ A voice said with Shiro's voice, sounding as if it was mocking her and disgusted with Shiro. "Who are you then? Come out right now!" Devine called out, hand on her sword's hilt in case of attack, but reaching out she couldn't find anyone else in the hanger, nor feel anything beyond the large imposing doors.

' _ **I am The Black Lion. Little Cub~.'**_ Shiro's voice purred rather sinisterly in her brain, the tone making her blush a bright pink and swallow nervously. She reached out beyond the doors to feel the remains of Zarkon's corrupted quintessence, still mirrored inside the Black lion. Devine could not help but tremble at the feeling of the abyss like quintessence the large mechanical lion had, taking a few steps back to ease the ghostly pressure in her chest.

' _ **Leaving so soon~? I thought you wanted to meet me.**_ **'** the black lion cooed in Shiro's voice, making her blush and the lion purr in amusement. "S-stop using Shiro's voice! It's creepy!" she yelled at it, but it seemed to only amuse the lion more.

' _ **I'm not using anyone's voice, Cub. It is all your own doing. Dictating just who I sound like~.'**_ The lion intentionally sounded seductive and out of breath, purring with amusement. _**'It's not my fault the Alpha has not clamed you properly. No matter how much you wish it~.'**_ it taunted almost playfully, but it felt far more threating to the young woman.

"Okay, you stop it right there!" Devine yelled pointing a finger at the Lion's direction. "I came here to give you a new name and make nice. Not have you bully and mock me about my love life!" she stomped her foot angrily, letting out a charge of smokey gray lighting.

The lion chuckled lowly in amusement.

' _ **I am the Black Lion, and my name is Na-'**_

"NO! That's not cute at all!" Devine yelled angry, interrupting the lion mid sentience, much to it's annoyance as it growled lowly in displeasure.

' _ **What?'**_

"You're getting a cute new name and Paladin. Zarkon _cannot_ , and **_will not_** pilot you anymore. So you better play nice with Shiro." She scolded the lion who was taken aback by her daring declaration, Devine taking a moment to go over the names she could give the Black Lion.

' _ **I would rather play with you. You're a very interesting little thing~.'**_

Devine fought back a blush as it sounded like the lion was flirting with her for a moment. "Sorry, but I'm no Paladin. So I was thinking your new name should be, _Obsidian_!" she decaled as the Lion thought over the name, making her smirk. "Or, Obie! For short! It's just adorable." She mused as the Lion felt insulted and disgruntled at the new name.

' _ **I will not be called anything so ridiculous!'**_ Obsidian growled and mentally snapped at her but Devine only smiled, happy with the reaction as she turned to leave.

' _ **Where are you going?'**_

"Going to meet the green lion. I'm sure she will be a lot friendlier and appreciate a new name." Devine entered the elevator but just before it closed, Obsidian spoke up again.

' _ **You'll be back, Little Cub...'**_

It said with a low rumble that shook her entire body, Devine look deep breaths as she allowed for her tears to fall from her eyes and over her cheeks. "I messed up, so much didn't I?" She whispered into the empty space as she slid to the floor in exhaustion, her eyes where closing from exhaustion before the doors opened again.

"Miss Devine? Are you alright?" Coran asked worriedly and she looked up a tad startled. "Oh! Coran. Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired." She sighed as the Altean entered the elevator. "How about I show you to your room so you can get some rest before the big battle?" he suggested once the elevator started moving again. "Thanks, but I think I'll just set my stuff down. Does the castle have anything like a library or a sewing room? Maybe just an empty room for meditation?" She asked tiredly, looking at the dumbfound look on his face.

"Is there something wrong?" Devine asked in worry, but the mustached man shook his head and chuckled.

"No, no. Nothing's wrong. It's just that Queen Amroa insisted on having physical books and scrolls in the castle, she always said computer screens were just too cold to really enjoy any story. As for the Sewing and Mediation rooms..." he was saying as the elevator stopped.

"They're right this way, I'll show you."Coran eagerly walked down the hall, Devine getting up to follow slowly. "These will be the rooms for the Paladins, further down the hall are Allura's chambers, my room is right next to her's, and right across from her will be your suite Milady~." Coran pointed out as they walked further down the hall, Devine mentally counted the number of doors. Passing the door to her suite for now, Coran pointed to two doors right across from each other. "The door to my left is Queen Amroa's sewing room, and to my right is the meditation room." Coran mentioned as he walked up to the doors, inputting some code in each of the panels beside them before opening the door on the right.

"Now you have access to these rooms as well, Miss Devine. Would you like to see the mediation room?" he asked looking excited as Devine smiled softly and nodded, following him inside the dark room. At first she was confused, a little worried as the door shut behind them... and she could no longer feel Allura. "C-coran?" she called out worriedly as the room was lit up to look like a savanna, with blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds, the golden ankle high grass and among the grassy floor were an entire pride of stuffed lions in every color on the spectrum and in a range of different sizes.

"Ta-da! What do ya think?" he asked but noticed the panicked look she had on her face.

"Oh! You can't feel Allura can you? Not to worry, this room was made as a sanctuary for the Queen to rest her nerves after large, emotional events. So you can't feel a thing that isn't already in here." He motioned all around him and pet the head of a giant white lion with faded gray stripes. "and you have cuddly stuffed Lions and blankets everywhere to take a little cat nap. You can even change the scenery if you like."

Just as he said that, the savanna became a meadow at night, stars twinkling in the clear sky as a large white and blue comment was flying past. Devine's eyes widen as she saw the very familiar comet in the sky. "Hm, that's new." Coran mentioned off handedly but turned to Devine who was still looking at the comet.

' _Haley's Comet?'_ she questioned before looking at Coran.

"T-thank you, I wouldn't want to intrude on anything personal." She said nervously but Coran shook his head. "Not to worry, Queen Amora loved to help others. This would make her happy... something she made helping another like her." Coran then chuckled. "Look the Lion's noses even squeak." He added happily, pressed the nose of the white lion, but instead of a cute little squeak like expected, there was a mighty lion's roar that resonated threw out the room.

"Well... guess not _all_ of them squeak then." Coran breath out, having been startled by the unexpected noise and Devine started openly laughing as she griped her sides, amused by Coran's very genuine surprise. "I'll leave you to your own then. There's still a lot to do, and if you ever need me, just call." He told her as he left the room with a smile, happy he made the sorrowful girl laugh.

Devine tried to calm down as Coran left, a cold feeling washing over her as she didn't feel anyone once door closed. She could only feel her own emotions of panic, anxiety, worthlessness, and nothingness as her heart started racing. Quickly she unwrapped another candy, the taste of aged grapes, with hints of vanilla, caramel and something slightly exotic hit her taste buds, dulling her senses a bit but not enough. Devine shook as she opened her bag to retrieve a sliver flask, popping off the top to chug down the liquid inside, dulling her senses even further.

"Ah~, that's better." She sighed, feeling her body warm up from the rather strong Alcohol she had just consumed, making her a tad sleepy. She sat down next to the striped lion, reclining her back onto its soft, stuffed body letting her eyes slowly shut as the light form the projected comet gave a soft calming light.

"I'll just rest... for a few ticks..." she drifted off into a clam, dark abyss.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Jolting awake suddenly Devine shot up from her place resting ageists the plush white lion, a teal blanket draped over her body. "How long have I been asleep!?" she asked, panic ran threw her body as she reached for her bag, noticing it and her sword where gone, making her blood run cold. Throwing off the blanket carelessly she ran from the room, the door opened letting her out to feel the positive emotions from Allura, Coran, Shiro and...

"Katie!" Devine shouted the green paladin's real name before running down the hall to the elevator, pausing at her door. "Wait... do I smell?" she asked, breathing on her hand and sniffing it to smell the strong alcoholic scent. "Yeah, definitely got to wash my mouth out." She entered the generously large room, dominated by white and light purple with sliver and light blue accents, on the large bed was her bag and sword.

Quickly going through it, she pulled out her normalish space suit before undressing and slipping it on.

A consisted of a tight black suit clung to her curves like a second skin up to her neck with dark purple running up the sides up to the custom chest piece that compressed and lifted her womanly assess, a 2 inch white gem glowed in the middle of her chest between two white lines along her collar bone. Black knee high boots with an inch and a half high heels with white bottoms, both containing a small emergency blades in the toes, some gauntlet like gloves that covered her forearm with three white stripes around her wrists and glowing white gems at the back of her hands.

Devine then pulled on her utility belt, special pockets containing useful items, before adding her Katana to her left hip. Going threw her bag again she pulled out a small bottle of alien mouth wash, quickly heading to the on suite connected to her new room, emptying the bottle into her mouth to wash out the smell of alcohol, gargling before spitting it out into the white marble like sink.

Not bothering to take in the site of the private bathroom, she quickly ran out of the room, only to double back and look threw her bag again. Pulling out a dark purple, quarter sleeved jacket that slipped over her chest plate, helping to hide her feminine curves, but exposed the white gem on her chest. She then rummaged around her bag to then pull out a black mask with two light gray marks under the white, narrowed feline shaped eye holes, followed by a little lavender flower bulb with an oval shaped glass protecting it.

"Let's put you somewhere safe okay?" Devine smiled at the plant, pulling off the protective case to set it down on one of the nightstands before diving back into her bag for a large sliver V shaped ring with three lavender diamond shaped jewels decorating the sides. She clasped it around her neck happily, before reaching out for the other Paladins with her quintessence, gently nuzzling them before pulling back.

"Looks like everyone's alright." She mused with glee, feeling Hunk and Lance returned a little haggard, but alive with their lions. "Now let's go welcome them back." She squealed happily as she ran/floated to the main deck, where all the Paladian's gathered, along with the great feelings of accomplishment.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Yeah, we had a tough time too." Pidge shared a smirk with Shiro as Lance and Hunk explained their last minute retrieval of the Yellow lion, right before there was a flash of light that not only blinded everyone, but knocked the wind out of the youngest paladin, who was suddenly being bare hugged about 5 feet in the air.

"I knew you could do it Pidge! Your family would be so proud of you." Devine happily exclaimed as she hugged the green paladin happily. "Can't... breath..." Pidge struggled to get out until Devine loosened her hold to a tolerable level. "AH! Put me down please!" Pidge pleaded as they fearfully wrapping their arms and legs around the older female after seeing how high they were in the air. "Sure, Hun." Devine laughed as she happily drank in the remaining positive emotions, floating down to the floor to release Pidge to stand safely on solid ground.

"Care to dim the lights too?" Keith asked, squinting behind his arms to try and see anything as Devine blushed with an excited smile. "Sorry, give me a few ticks." She responded, taking a slow deep breath, holding it and then slowly letting it go to dim her bright excited glow. "Hey! How come Pidge got a hug?" Lance pouted, noticing the change in wardrobe. "We were attacked by Galra. Don't we deserve one too?" He asked, pointing to himself and Hunk who looked like he also wanted a hug. "Okay, come here you two." Devine smiled as she opened her arms to them, Lance and Hunk both smiled as they hugged her happily , the contact energizing her as she gave them a bit more feelings of confidence and assurance before separating.

"I see that little cat nap of yours did wonders." Allura spoke up, glad that the other young woman was so full of energy now. "Yes, and thank you, Coran for showing me that room. It really helped me relax and feel my own emotions for a change." She smiled at the older Altean gratefully who blushed with pride. "Your very welcome milady~, now I'm afraid I have some bad news, but there's also some good news." He added, as her eyes widen and then narrowed, already knowing both.

"What's the bad news?" Shiro asked, looking concerned and a little hurt to be left out of the hug give away along with Keith who tried to hide his slight jealousy of the warm attention she had given then other paladins.

"Well, the Galra battleship is now currently orbiting over Arus. But the good news is, we're on Arus!" Coran tried to make it sound exciting but the younger paladins looked shocked and afraid. "They're here already!?" Shiro asked in shock before an infamous face appeared on the main screen. " _Sendick_." Devine spat out hatefully as the gems on her suit turned a dark gray, Hunk and Lance stepping away from her as they could feel her growling lowly and see the dangerous gray sparks she admitted, glaring at the one eyed Galra on screen as he spoke sternly.

" _Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire_." Sendak began, looking at Princess Allura with disinterest, making everyone gasp in surprise and fear. " _I come on the behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. So turn them over to me, as well as your little_ _ **friend**_ _there..."_ he demanded glancing at a scowling Devine with a confident smirk, infuriating the woman who knew why he wanted her. _"Or I will destroy Arus_." He ordered, not waiting for a response before the communication was cut.

The silence was thick in the air before Shiro spoke up calmly.

"All right, let's not panic."

"Not panic!?" Hunk piped up fearfully. "Th-That scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us and we only have four lions!"

"Technically, we only have three working lions." Pidge corrected, adding to the big guy's distress. "That's not helping." Devine scolded the youngest paladin, feeling Hunk's panic fill the room like an unpleasant fart. "He's right. Thank you, Pidge. _**Three**_ working lions and a castle that's, like, 10,000 years old!" Hunk exclaimed before Coran chimed in. "Actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather-" He launched into the story proudly, but got interrupted by Hunk. Who put his pointer finger against Coran's lips to shut him up.

"Thanks, Coran. Thank you, for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!" Hunk yelled, clearly panicked.

"No it isn't. It's just what _Sendick_ wants us to do, to make you guys weaker." Devine spoke up, growling the Galra's name hatefully. "There's no way he's going to Zarkon with just one Lion that can't be useful to him, and he can't just go and ask for backup. Not when the other lions are all right in front of him, he wouldn't share his glory with another commander, epically within his own sector. " She glowed with confidence, knowing they would get back Ruby and destroy the ship eventually... even if Sendak would come to haunt them later.

"She's right, and the castle has a particle barrier we can activate." Allura added helpfully, feeling at ease until Lance opened his mouth.

"Girl, you've already activated my par-"

" _Lance_." Shiro interrupted, calling the young paladin's name, giving him a look of disapproval; Lance shrank back like a little kid that had just been scolded by his father as he pouted.

"The Particle barrier won't hold off that ships ion cannon forever. Galra technology must have advanced since we last fought them. " Coran stated while the image of Sendak's ship showed up on a screen, looking rather intimidating with its large size and weaponry.

"Not really. They've taken over so many other planets and used their tech over any thing truly Galra made. The only thing really Galra about their ships now is the color and the crew. Even then it's only a handful of Galra on each ship at most, since their numbers have been dwindling for the past few centuries or so, and their qualifications for solders are so rigorous and single minded not many can even make it into military, let alone make a good for filling career out of it." Devine vomited the information to very one, shocking them with all her knowledge of the Galra.

"H-how do you know this?" Allura asked, slightly scared and worried as she gave the princess a confident smile.

"I've been collecting information that has brush off as useless for quite a while. Such a the dwindling population of so called _Pure Galra_ and the rising number of half breeds, where certain foods are going and in what quantity between shipments, the number of Galra that work more mundane jobs not associated with the military, even their Galaxy net usage. Do you really think _ALL_ Galra are just mindlessly following Zarkon princess?" Devine smiled softly as she looked at everyone. "We are not alone in this fight, just scattered, and others have been biting their time, gathering Intel to bring down Zarkon once and for all." She chuckled, thinking of the rebels, _Matt_ , the Blade of Marmora, _Kolivan_ and _Ulaz_ , the other aliens they were bound to meet like _Rolo, Nyma, Shay,_ and even _Slav_ hopefully.

"So why not share it with the best chance the universe has of beating him?" Devine said with great confidence as she glowed a bright white before them. "I agree, Miss Devine." Shiro smiled at her, making the woman shine in happiness but struggle to not become a blinding beam. "We just need to figure out a plan of action and quickly." The handsome paladin concluded as Hunk's shoulders slacked in defeat. Devine bit her lip, already knowing the plan Shiro would come up with, but she watched as his brain worked it out on his own. His jaw and neck tensed, the edge of his lips pulled down in a slight but thoughtful frown, gray eyes darkening as they narrowed to focus on a plan.

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day." Lance suggested, snapping her out of admiring the Black paladin. "I second that." Hunk supported his friend, also rising his hand like his friend. "I mean, we tried to get all the lions, right? We gave it the good old college try." She could feel the nervousness of both paladins being very strong. "We couldn't do it. We only have three so we can't form Voltron. I guess we could form something like a snake, or a worm! To go through that hole you where talking about, Lance." Hunk suggested helpfully as Lance smiled at the suggestion.

"Then it's settled. Allura. Devine. You'll ride with me. One of you guys can take the old guy." Lance declared as the two females gave him flat looks while Coran's face turned red in anger at being called old. "Lance! Respect your elders. We are not going to let Arus and its people be destroyed by that monster!" Devine reprimand the boy disapprovingly, making the blue paladin shrink back at her outrage.

"Yeah, the Galra will just keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we actually put a stop them." Pidge correctly assumed, looking very irritated about something. "Okay, but maybe if we run, Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone. Like when we left Earth. We can form the snake-worm thing-a-majig and we, _hiss_ , out of here." Hunk suggested hopefully as Devine sighed sadly. "It's not gonna work." She mentioned before Keith piped up.

"Sendak could-" "Would." "He _would_ destroy the planet and come after us any way." Keith frowned at Devine's interruption, but he believed her, the Galra commander could and **_would_** destroy the planet even if they left.

"Staying is our only option." The red paladin gave his firm opinion.

"Here's an option: Shut your Quiznak." Lance cursed at Keith as he made a zip-it motion over his mouth, making Allura and Coran cringe at the misuse of their language.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly." Keith scowled at Lance who was about to retort before Devine grabbed the front of his t-shirt and stuffed something rectangular and white into his mouth. The blue paladian's eyes widen as a foul taste assaulted his tongue, he wanted to get rid of it but Devine had her hand firmly over his mouth, as her eyes gave off smokey gray sparks.

"I will warn you now young man. Do not ever use words you do not know the meaning to. That was a foul word you just used that should never be used by _ANYONE_." She growled out, Coran hid behind Allura out of fear because he had said it first. "If I hear another foul word like that come out of your mouth, I will shove another bar of non-toxic soap into your dirty little pie hole. Do you understand?" she asked as Lance nodded his head, feeling the soap start to lather up on his tongue. "Good." Devine nodded as she removed her hand from his mouth, letting him spit out the travel sized soap bar, sending it clear across the room.

"Agh! _GROWS_!" Lance yelled as he stuck his soap covered tongue and ran it over the sleeves of his jacket in desperation.

"I'm a little scared to ask." Keith spoke up as everyone stared at Devine for her rather extreme reaction to a single word. "Coran, what does Quiz- that word mean?" Allura asked, catching herself from saying that word as the older Altean paled. "It's a crude Altean word for _reproduction_. Just so everyone is aware that is a very bad word that should never be said again." Devine told them, as they all looked at her, shocked. "Oh my!" the princess exclaimed in surprise, a blush over coming her cheeks, now understanding Devine's reaction and her mother's reaction from when she said it as a child, having heard it from her own father's mouth after he got hurt suddenly.

"So with that out of the way, what are we going to do, princess?" Shiro looked to Allura. "They are your lions. You and Miss Devine have dealt with the Galra Empire before. You two know what we're up against the best out of all of us. What do _you_ think is the best course of action?" Devine frowned in slight jealousy, Allura had Shiro's complete attention because he though she knew the Galra better and that the Lions belonged to the Altean princess. Allura who looked away from Shiro's strong gaze.

"I...I don't know." Allura admitted nervously, as gray sparks where admitted from Devine's eyes as she crossed her arms; the younger paladin's took a step away from the sparking woman.

"Perhaps your father can help." Coran suggested helpfully as Allura became confused and hopeful at the mention of King Alfor.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"This is nerve racking." Devine admitted as she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, feeling lots of fear from at least two of the paladins, anger, worry, frustration, and... concern? "Are you alright Miss Devine?" Shiro asked as he noticed the empath looking pained. "Yes, I will be once the _princess_ makes a decision." Devine stressed the word with controlled anger, it just seemed like such an easy decision to make.

Fight or Flee?

She would choose fight since they had three lions with a forth coming into their reach, but she wasn't raised as a royal Altean 10,000 years ago. Allura needed the emotional support of her father's memories to tell her to fight to protect an planet, one that had safe guarded her for ten millennia, filled with oblivious and innocent Arusians she had come to know first hand. Devine could understand that Allura was scared, she could feel it clearly, yet it seemed the princess had lead a rather enchanted life before Zarkon's betrayal, she was _severely_ under qualified to actually lead the soon to be Legendary Defenders. Allura just let Shiro, the natural leader, take the reins from her without contributing much to their overall plan. Then again, she wasn't much of a leader nor did she want other's depending on her for guidance, at least not yet.

"So... why did that cyborg ask for you along with the lions?" Pidge asked as Hunk and Lance realized the Galra commander wanted her too. "I'd like to know as well, you seemed pretty upset when you saw him on the screen." Shiro asked as he looked at her with worry. "I.. saved his life with Ruby's help." She admitted to them, earning gasps and surprised looks as she looked at the ground. _'After I cut off his old arm.'_ She added in her mind, smirking at the memory.

"Is that why Ruby looked like it was going to you instead of Keith?" Hunk asked, looking at her with wide eyes, talking about the red lion. "It was only a temporary thing. Then again I couldn't think of anyway _anyone_ could have navigated threw all that lava. So... I thought I'd try get her myself, and I... kinda did." Devine explained, slightly proud of her self.

"Then how exactly did he steal Red from you then?" Keith asked, more curious then upset, Devine shrunk into her jacket in shame. "I... wasn't thinking really when I made her save him from the lava." She admitted bashfully. "I took care of his injuries, before I started talking to Ruby. I gave her a new name and then something hit me from behind. Next thing I know, I'm locked in a guarded room on _his_ battleship." She hissed out with a deep frown.

"So let me get this striate. You saved the life of the alien that's currently threatening to destroy us if we don't give him our lions." Lance asked and Devine nodded. "Isn't there like, some honor code he has to follow, you literally save the guy's life! He owes you!" Lance pointed out. "I was also the one who pushed him into an active Volcano. So... that may have voided me saving his life." Devine reasoned, not understanding how else the injured Galra could just shoot her in the back after saving and treating his injuries. Then again, Sendek was a Commander under Emperor Zarkon's command.

"Oh..." the young paladian's stared at her in disbelief, before they wouldn't think she would be capable of anything really bad, but after seeing her shock Coran, fly, and punish Lance for his language they where weary of what she could do with that sword at her hip. "What's with the outfit then?" Keith asked, being the first to ask about the skin tight suit under the hoodie. "I'm going with you to get Ruby back." Devine told him simply as Keith looked surprised.

"What? You don't think I can do it myself?" he asked, glaring at her as she gave him a flat look. "Do you know _exactly_ where Ruby is on that ship and how to get there? Where the robot sentries and the Galra are and how to avoid them?" She asked as Keith pouted. "No, but neither do you." He shot back defensively only to get a smirk in return. "This won't be my first time infiltrating a Galra command ship, and I escaped from that very ship." She admitted before the doors to the main deck opened.

Allura walked in confidently, dressed in her white and pink Altean space suit with her sliver blue hair pulled back and up into a practical bun. Devine relaxed a little feeling the princess's resolve and the Paladian's admiration for the princess rise, Shiro included, she had to bite back her childish jealousy.

"The Five of you where brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions where destined to be piloted by you and only you." Devine bit her lip, as the princess continued. "We must stand our ground fight, and keep fighting until Zarkon is defeated. It is our fate as Voltron is the Universe's only hope. _We_ are the universe's only hope." She finished with conviction and authority, but Devine could still feel she was scared of what the Paldians, Shiro, would say as her gaze fell on him.

"We're with you, Princess." Shiro assured her, cementing the team's actions as Allura's heart fluttered strangely, and Devine felt it in her own heart despite him not addressing her.

 **~Voltron~**

They were escorted to a large room that was just above the bays for the lions; inside the room where five chambers containing the Paladin spade suits that matched the colors of each lion. "These are your suits of armor." Alllua presented them as each human stepped up to their corresponding colors, drinking in the site of the white suits with the Voltron crest adorned on the chests.

"Cool!" Lance's eyes sparkled as he was reflected in the containers glass.

"Outstanding." Shiro breathed, impressed with the imposing black and white armor.

"Nice." Keith smirked as he admired the deep red color on white.

"Oh, neat!" Pidge was intrigued, a little concerned as the suit appeared to be about a foot taller than her.

As for Hunk...

He stared at his yellow and white armor and then himself, comparing the suits normal appearance to his own build, feeling unsure of himself as he believed himself to be far too big. Devine spoke up to assure the smaller and larger paladins.

"They are Alltean made armor, they will not only protect you from the harshness of space, but the helmets will hide your identities fairly well. It's how the identity of the previous paladins where not widely known." She explained looking at a dejected Hunk. "Another perk to Altean made armor is that it can expand or contract to fit its wearer, no matter how big or how small they are." She informed them looking at Pidge who seemed more excited by the news they could actually wear their armor with out worrying about their size or shape.

"You sure I'm not gonna rip my pants in this?" Hunk asked nervously as Devine placed a hand on his upper arm, white mist coming from her and entering Hunk along with the feeling of confidence. "No, you're not gonna rip your pants. In fact you would look like a real _Hunk_ in it." She slightly joked with a soft smile as Hunk looked confused.

"But I am the real-Oh! Gotcha." Hunk realized what she meant, making her chuckle softly as he blushed nervously.

"Princess, are you sure about this? Aside from Miss Devine, and maybe their Alpha, they aren't exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer." Coran tried to whisper to Allura as quietly as they could. "No, but they're all we've got." Allura whispered back. Devine had to roll her eyes as she whispered, clear across the room from them. "You two do realize this chamber can send whispers across the room, right?" she asked smirking as both Alteans jumped in surprise, looking at her.

" _WITCH_!" Coran yelled in surprise, as Allura looked ashamed at being caught.

"Why don't you guys go try them on?" Devine suggested as Shiro nodded eagerly in agreement. "You heard the lady, Men. Time to suit up." Just as Shiro said that the chambers opened up to allow the Paladins to take their armor, Lance and Keith being the most eager to try them on, followed by Pidge, Hunk, and lastly Shiro.

' _Hate to let him go, but I **love** the view~.'_ Devine purred, lightly blushing as she examed Shiro's back, from his neck down to his broad shoulders, strong wide back to the well muscled ass cheeks and legs inaction as he walked with confident steps before her attention was diverted to the Alteans. "Miss Devine we have an extra suit if you would like to join them." Allura suggested as Coran held out a space suit much like Allura's, only purple instead of pink and maroon replacing the blue on the shoulders and hips. It was clear who the pervious owner of the suit was.

"Thanks, I'm good with the one I have on for now. If you don't mind my asking..." Devine looked from the white and purple space suit, to Allura's that looked only slightly different form the Paladin armor. "Why are there pink and purple paladin armors? Are there more lions?" she asked, curious if there were really was **_ONLY_** five lions in this reality. "No, there are only five lions; these suits belonged to the wives of the previous Paladins." Allura touched the pink emblem on her chest plate, a sentimental look on her face. "My mother, Queen Amora, wore this one and-" The princess stopped herself from speaking the other name, but Devine knew it anyway.

"Empress Honerva, Zarkon's wife, wore the other one." Devine finished for her, conflicting emotions bubbling inside her, the thought to destroying the suit crossed her mind before thinking of ways it could be useful, as a sort of back up for emergencies.

"Y-you know about that too." Allura was genuinely surprised, and shocked that Devine even knew the name, and her connection to the former Black paladin. "She goes by Haggar now. I've very aware of her work." Devine growled closing her eyes as she gave off gray sparks, taking in a deep breath and holding it to keep from trembling. "Even the Empress is alive!? H-how!?" Coran asked, trembling as he dropped the suite, letting it drop to the ground with a soft thump as the helmet rolled up to Devine's feet.

"The same way Zarkon is still alive, _Corrupted Quintessence_." She slowly let out a breath, looking down at the helmet, wondering if she could crush it under her feet. Only to kneel down and pick it up, holding it for a moment as she closed her eyes, t first she flinched as the image of the 10,000 year old witch came to her mind. Only to fade away into an Altean woman, tanned skin stretched into a loving smile, golden eyes sparking with love as loose purple strands swirled behind her, like the tail of a comet as her arms where wide open to embrace the former Black paladin and-

" _DEVINE!"_

"AHHH!" She screamed in surprise at her new name being called so loudly, giving off several strands of yellow colored sparks that everyone in the room. " _QUIZNAK_!" Coran yelled in surprise more then pain, the only one not in a protective suit as he fell to the floor in a curled up position sucking his thumb in fear, an effect of the yellow sparks she admitted.

"Please make it go away mummy." The older Altean pleaded as he fought back uselessly as tears spilled from his eyes like a water fall.

"Yikes. I guess these things are empathy proof. What was that about?" Pidge asked, looking from Coran to Devine who looked sheepishly guilty. "Sorry, I was surprised... and it kinda... shot out?" she vaguely explained, embarrassed by her curiosity and selective attention span. "No surprises, got it." Lance voiced looking a little scared as Allura looked over Coran worriedly. "Coran said the bad word." Hunk pointed out, as Devine sighed uneasily at that she had done to the Altean. "I think he's being punished enough Hunk." Shiro spoke up as Coran came to his senses slowly standing up on shaky legs. "Well, that was something I haven't felt in 10,000 years. Never startle an Empath with other worldly skills." He shared his wisdom with the paladins, dusting himself off as he regained his composure.

"What was so interesting about that helmet? We were all calling your name." Keith asked as they all looked at her for an answer. Devine looked at the helmet unsurely, getting bits of images and a strange feeling from it. "Certain objects...can retain strong emotions, an imprint, or even memories, from those that possessed them." she told them, feeling her body grow warm and her heart pick up speed.

"What kind of emotions are you getting from it?" Shiro asked as he placed his left hand on her shoulder. Devine's golden eyes widen as she looked at him, Shiro's face was replaced with Zarkon's before his transformation with sparking purple pupils in his yellow eyes. His face coming closer to her own as her heart hammered heavily in her chest, her face heating up as pink sparks danced over Shiro's fingers from where he was touching her.

Suddenly Devine shot away from him until her back hit the wall, as she looked at the black paladin with wide unforced eyes, confusing the younger paladins as Shiro felt a little hurt by the look of horror on her face.

"Ohh~ very interesting." Coran smirked, as he realized what was going on and Allura looked a little confused and worried. "Regardless, Miss Devine, I would like you to wear the helmet. It will help you keep in contact with the rest of the team. Will it be any problem?" Allura asked as Devine took deep breaths to clam her raging heart. "N-no. I think I can mange. It's usually very limited, and the imprint vanishes after being in the position of another for too long." Devine explained once she was calm. "Then why the aversion to Shiro all of a sudden?" Hunk asked, and Coran answered with a knowing smile. "Well, the previous owner of that helmet was very much _in_ _love~_ with the pervious Black paladin." Coran explained, making both Shiro and Devine blush, the older Altean grinned even as the empath glared at him.

' _Coran, you are_ ** _NOT_** _helping!'_

"In fact, she even ma-" Coran started but was quickly silenced by a bar of soap entering his mouth. "Agh! Phew! Why does it taste so horrible!?" the older Altean yelled as he let the bar of soap drop from his mouth, as Devine gave off a few sparks of gray as she stood beside him.

"I think we should get to the bayards now, don't you agree princess?" Devine asked Allura who nodded more out of confusion then fear as she summoned four white innocent looking devices in red, blue, yellow and green. "Right, the bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes on a distinct shape for each paladin." Allura explained simply as the bayards floated to their paladins.

Once Hunk grabbed a hold of his, it turned into a large gun that resembled more of a cannon, taking both hands to just hold it up. Keith's bayard turned into a sword, and in response his armor spawned a shield on his left arm. Lance's bayard also turned into a sort of fire arm like Hunk's, only it reminded her of a classic sy-fi blaster. Pidge's bayard was easily the smallest, taking on a small arrow shaped blade along the outer edge. The smallest paladin gave a few swings to test it out before Lance noticed its size.

"Aww, you got a cute little bayard." Lance laughed in amusement, not prepared for Pidge to hit him in the unprotected side with the _cute_ bayard. "AGH!" Lance cried in pain and surprise as he was shocked and fell to the floor with a pained groan as Pidge smirked, proud of the from the bayard took. "Yeah. It is pretty cute." the smallest paladin mussed proudly as Devine chuckled, braiding her hair, fixing it so that it would fit under her hood and not get in her way. "Sometimes, the cutest things are the most deadly." she warned, pining the braid into a secure bun, except for a few shorter strands that fell over her Altean pointed ears and forehead. Allura and Coran shared a look, staring at Devine in confusion, before Allira looked at the bayardless leader sadly.

"Shiro, I'm afraid your bayard has been lost along with its former paladin." Allura explained, not looking him in the eye as she gave deceptive a half truth. "I guess I'll just have to make do." Shiro said with confidence, giving a sad smile as he held his prosthetic arm. Biting her lip Devine wondered what she could feel if she touched that arm, or if it touched her~. "What about your weapon Miss Devine?" Allura asked as she eyed the sword with curiosity, Snaping the older woman out of her thoughts, as did the Paladins looked at her in curiosity when she gave a smirk. "I prefer to show, and not just tell." She said confidently as she placed a hand on the sheath before pulling out something that looked like a small apple like fruit out of a pouch, throwing it in the air.

They all watched the apple go up, after a brief flash, the fruit fell down... cut into eight pieces each falling into the hands of someone.

"Wow."

"Cool."

"Amazing."

"Impressive!"

"Is that even sanitary?" Hunk asked as he looked at the slice of delicious looking fruit, pointing at the pitch black blade of her Katana. "Yes, Hunk. I clean my sword regularly; it is perfectly fit to cut fruit and enemies." She smiled, eating her slice before pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the fruit juice off, leaving behind only the natural black shine of the special blade. Devine sheathed it slowly as everyone took in their piece of fruit into there mouth, even the Allura who was unsure of eating such an ill prepared food.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Everyone ready?" Shiro asked threw the communicators; Devine had to fight back a shiver of excitement at his voice being so close to her ears, while wearing the purple helmet that once belong to the Galra empress that applied her interest in the black paladin. "Yeah, just leave that big bag cannon to me and Hunk. You guys just worry about finding little _Ruby_ ~." Lance mocked Keith, who didn't like the girly name his lion already had. "I'm not calling my lion that." He bit back as Devine giggled. "Then you're going to have to bring that up with her and change it." She teased Keith, finding his pout adorable, but she had a feeling the name wouldn't change.

"Are you sure you know where _Ruby_ is?" Pidge asked with a small grin, the ship's side dominating their view from the green lion.

"Yes, he couldn't have moved her from the hanger because of her barrier, but if we entered there we would be swarmed by the robotic sentinels in a heartbeat. The command deck, ironically, has the least secured access points, but that is most likely where Sendak and his crew will be." Devine explained before pointing to a small weakened point in the ship that looked like someone had cut it open, and then weld it shut.

"That... would be our best point of entry and escape." She smirked at the crude weld job that had certain Galra characters painted on it in purple. "What's it say?" Pidge asked, curious about the rather out of place characters.

"It says, ' _Suck it, Sendick_.'" Devine translated with a smirk, getting surprised looks form the larger paladins as Pidge openly laughed with amusement. "You've got to teach me that." Pidge grinned as Devine just smiled at them.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"This way." Devine lead the group threw the halls, levitating high in the artificial gravity as the paladins ran after her on the ground. "Slow down, we can't fly remember." Keith scowled at the empath who finally stopped in mid air, looking back at them with worry. "Agh." Shiro groaned as he lumbered down the very familiar hall."Shiro? What's wrong?" Pidge asked, looking concerned for the older man as he looked around him at dark menacing purple halls. "I've... been here before." He tried to explain, Devine's blood ran cold at his words. "After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos. They brought us here."

"So, that means the other crew members might be held captive here. We... We've got to rescue them." Pidge declared urgently. "They're not." Devine informed the young paladin who looked at her with wide, hurt eyes.

"How do you-"

"There are no human quintessence signatures onboard this ship beyond this hallway." Devine cut Pidge question short, telling the truth about not sensing any other humans. "Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red lion and get back to Arus." Shiro tried to persuade the young one but it seemed to make the green paladin angry. "But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge yelled angrily, Devine wanted to scold the child, if it wasn't for the mass feelings of sadness and desperation the little paladin gave off. "Look. No one understands that more than me but, in war... we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving." Shiro ordered sternly, Pidge made a face that nearly broke Devine's heart.

 ** _"NO!"_** Pidge yelled, the single word reverberating around them loudly as normally round and innocent eyes, stunning everyone in place. "Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos Mission with you." Pidge finally admitted as Shiro's eyes widen at the information. "Commander Holt, is your father?" he asked, his brain looking for evidence to back Pidge's claim, and slowly figuring out the mystery that was before him. "I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother, and I'm not going to give up. Not when I'm this close." Pidge declared with determination, turning the other way before muttering something under their breath.

"I'm coming with you." Shiro called out, surprising the other two paladins. "What?" Keith questioned, feeling hurt and confused, pulling at Devine's heart strings even more then Pidge who looked at Shiro in disbelief. "I'll go with Pidge since Miss Devine knows where Ruby is, and I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith follow Miss Devine and get your lion."

"By ourselves?" Keith asked, Devine would have been insulted if it weren't for the feeling of abandonment that came off the young paladin. "Minor change of plans. You'll be fine." Shiro tried to assure him but it did nothing to dim the emo storm coming from Keith. "Take care of him Miss Devine." Shiro asked as he looked at her, getting a nod before turning to Keith again. "Remember, patience yields focus." Where Shiro's last words to Keith before they had to separate, a patrol drone having walking down the hallway between them.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Are we there yet?" Keith asked, getting irritated with Devine flying ahead of him, stopping just long enough for him to catch up before flying off again. "No. Not yet, you're throwing off my sense of direction a little with your emo brooding." She mentioned looking at the hall way like she was confused, but she had a plan.

"I am not Emo." He growled at her, irritated. "So you are upset Shiro chose Pidge over you." She mentioned as Keith was caught off guard.

"What!? No."

"Lair." She called him out about his not so hidden feelings, crossing her arms over her chest, staring down Keith sternly.

"I'm not." He lied, looking away from her.

"Keith, I can feel your emotions. No matter how hard you may try, or what emotion you're trying to hide, I can still feel it." She told him as the young man shifted uncomfortably and exposed to the strange female. "Shiro going with Pidge made you feel: worthless, abandoned, betrayed... alone." She named all his emotions, seeing her old self in Keith. Only she hoped to take him on a different path then she did... and maybe a slightly happier one then what was intended for him in her old world.

"He can't be there for you forever you know." She told him and Keith looked at her helplessly. "Yeah, but..." words failed him as he clenched his fists only for Devine to place her hands on top of his.

"Take a deep breath." She instructed seriously.

"What?" he looked at her confused.

"You are gonna find Ruby. Now take a deep breath." She instructed, taking a deep breath herself as Keith just looked at her, a warm feeling entering his fists as he uncurled them and took a deep breath and let it out quickly.

"We don't have time for this." Keith told her, getting irritated.

"Again, this time, hold it for a few seconds and release slowly. Now breathe in." she demonstrated, holding her breath waiting for Keith who did as she told him.

"Slowly out."

Keith still huffed out his breath.

"Breath in, again but close your eyes this time." She told him closing her eyes as she held Keith's hands, transferring some calm into him. Keith breathed in closing his eyes as he felt slightly warmer with the strangely cold air entering his chest.

"Breathe out." Keith exhaled, a little slower this time as he felt his hot blood running threw his veins under his skin.

"Breath in." Keith did, a strange spicy taste touching his tongue and the smell of a burning fire entered his nose.

"Breath out." Keith exhaled much more slowly, and behind his eye lids he could, _feel_ Devine? He wasn't sure how as the female slowly stepped away from him and the warm feeling went away, he was about to call out to her when he heard her voice?

' _Breath in.'_

Keith breathed in slowly, feeling warm flakes of air inter his nose and fill his lungs, his blood burning comfortably threw his body as he started to feel something else besides Devine, and much larger. "I know where Ruby is." Keith breathed out, eyes snapping open at a grinning and glowing Devine. "She's this way." Keith ran in the right direction, leaving Devine to float behind him, with a proud smile.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

They finally entered the room where Ruby waited, her particle barrier up as she waited for the two.

"Bingo. Let's get out of here." Keith smiled as he and Devine quickly headed for the lion, the young man felt pride as not only did he find it, but it was opening up for him quickly, only to have the barrier to shut him out. "Open up. It's me. Keith. Your buddy. I am your paladin!" Keith shouted at the Lion, his eyes widening as Devine turned to look at him, surprised and on the **_INSIDE_** of the barrier with the lion. She could feel Keith's emotions of disappointment, betrayal and worthlessness become stronger.

"How did you get in?" he asked angrily, hitting the barrier as Devine bit her lip... she wasn't telling him something. "She only opened up to me, but I have her trust. You need to earn her respect to get us out of here." She told him worriedly looking at Ruby who was quiet and still. "How am I supposed to do that?" Keith asked, frustrated as seven Galra sentries stormed into the room and started firing their weapons at him, ignoring Devine. Keith managed to block the lasers with his shield in time, Devine panicking a little as there where far more then Keith originally had to fight from what she knew.

"Keith! Ruby let me out. He can't handle that many sentries alone!" Devine demanded from the lion as she struck the barrier desperately, not able to leave it with the lion's attention on Keith, it made a chill run threw her body as more sentries flooded in. "You're not taking this Lion!" Keith shouted as he went from defense to offence, worrying Devine as she banged her fists on the barrier harder, hoping to divert some attention to herself only to fail. She watched as Keith's sword turned back into it's original form and then looked at the control panel next to him.

"Keith! No!" Devine knew what he was going to do before he actually opened the bay doors, the vacuum of space sucking all the air out, along with the sentries as Keith was barely holding on to the panel. Devine's heart nearly stopped as she saw the debris come at the young paladin in slow motion, the first one hitting his face thankfully protected by his helmet, before another one made him lose his only hold on the panel. The site of Keith disappearing into the dark abyss of space was haunting and fear inducing for her as large yellow bolts sprouted from her body, striking the lion who absorbed the energy making their eyes glow in activation.

" _KEITH_!" Devine shouted just as Ruby roared, scooping up Devine in her mouth before rushing to Keith's rescue. The young man was shocked and relived to see the lion come for him, but even more so as Devine gave him a tight hug, soft pink sparks glimmering off her body as she held him protectively.

' _Thank goodness you're okay.'_

Keith's eyes widen as he heard Devine's voice in his head, confusing him as she calmed down enough and let go of him slowly. Tears in her eyes as she smiled at him, taking the red paladin by surprise. "Now let's get back to the castle." She voiced and Keith nodded as they entered Ruby's cockpit. "Good kitty, Ruby." Keith whispered to the red lion as Devine grinned behind him.

"What was that about changing her name~?" Devine teased lightly as Keith blushed in realization, and like any typical teen.

"S-shut Up." He pouted with a small blush, feeling a strange new emotion in his chest.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

The Lions where gathered inside the castle, Shiro already standing before the doors that sealed away the Black Lion, but Devine felt uneasiness come from all the Lions. "What's wrong?" She asked the red lion softly, as she touched the controls tenderly. Keith looked at her confused but saw that the other lion's where not doing anything special to open the doors. "Ah? Aren't the Lions supposed to do something? Like roar maybe?" Hunk asked, sitting in the yellow lion awkwardly.

"Do the green and yellow Lions want names too?" Pidge asked a little hesitance with naming the robotic cat.

"Something's wrong, the lions are not opening the door to the Black Lion." Allura stated worriedly as she appeared on all the Paladin's screens. "What? Is it still in time out or something?" Lance asked, annoyed and tired from all the work he and Hunk did, disarming the Galra battleship to buy time for them to get all the lions togeather.

"Devine?" Keith looked at her as she bit her lip nervously. "Lance is... right. Kind of." She admitted much to the shock of everyone. "There's still some dark influence in Obsidian. The other lions can sense it, and they don't want to open the doors." She translated the lion's emotions, just as the black lion reached out to her.

' ** _I knew you would be back little cub~.'_**

She could hear Shiro's voice purr in her mind, making her blush. "Ruby, let me out." Devine asked the lion; Keith was shocked the lion did as she asked, without him even controlling her to do so. The woman soon joined Shiro before the massive doors that locked away the final lion.

"Miss Devine?" the Voltron leader called her name worriedly as the black lion chuckled in amusement.

' ** _He calls you Devine? How adorable~. I wonder if he's interested in a sample? Probably not since he called you Miss. Almost as if you where just a little girl to him and not a desirable woman~.'_** The lion taunted cruelly, gray sparks danced on Devine's skin at the psychological jab.

"Shut up!" She growled at the doors, but Shiro looked at her in shock and confusion to what he thought was her response to his question.

' ** _Oh~ this little cub has some bite to her. What are you going to do? Shower me in glitter?'_** the black lion chuckled, unafraid of the young woman who sighed as she got a rather idea before turning to look at the other four lions.

"Ruby." She called out to the red lion, eyes lighting up in response.

"Sapphire." The blue lion followed, lighting up as well.

"Peridot." The green lion's eyes glowed with curiosity and interest.

"Topaz." the yellow lion was the last to pay attention to her. The Paladins and the princess watched them in confusion as Devine hesitated with her next words. "Open the door." She asked them, getting long growls as it put the lions at ill ease. "What? Miss Devine? What are you doing?" Shiro asked, only to be ignored by the woman which wounded the paladin slightly.

"Princess Allura, once the door is open enough for me to slip inside, close and lock it behind me." Devine instructed, bracing for the tsunami of emotions from everyone.

" ** _WHAT_**!?" they shouted collectively, as the lions gave displeased growls. "The Lions don't want to open the door! You think we would let you get locked in there!?" Lance asked, worried and concerned. "Miss Devine, think of what you're doing. The black lion doesn't sound safe, let me handle it. I'm-" Shiro was saying before Devine's hand slipped behind his head, her lips met his own for a few ticks in a sudden kiss, the pink sparks between them made Shiro blush at the unexpected action.

"Whoa." Hunk and Pidge watched the kiss from their lions with wide eyes. "No way! I should be down there! Sapphire get me down there now!" Lance yelled in outrage, jealous of the older paladin. Keith was confused for a moment, as cold chill came over him. Meanwhile, Allura on the main deck felt a stab of envy, pink dusted her cheeks from just watching Devine kiss Shiro so bravely, before pull away after exactly 7 ticks... a fine strand of saliva dripping between her tongue and Shiro's open mouth as he stared at her in stunned disbelief.

' _No regrets.'_ Devine thought with a deep blush over taking her face, as the lions gave a collective roar as she stepped away from the older paladin, the doors opening only a little as Devine turned and ran into the Black Lion's hanger. Her white hair and pink sparks where the only lighting the space, producing enough light for everyone to get a glance of the Black lions lethal looking claws being restrained by thick chains.

"DEVINE!" Shiro called out to her, snapping out of his daze to late as the doors shut tightly behind her.

"Devine!" He yelled in panic as he hit the door, only for an amused chuckle to echo in his mind. The other paladins feeling something rather disturbing flow threw them as they tensed in shock.

"Z-zarkon?" Shiro questioned, paling before banging on the door again to get it open. "Allura! Open the door! Devine is in trouble!" he shouted, frustrated when the doors didn't open as the Princess tried to ignore Shiro's desperate request, feeling a bit shaken at the energy that had leaked out from the Black lion's prison.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Currently compressing some of the chapters so they're a bit longer. Also rewriting them a bit to refinement.


	3. Chapter 3, Teasing Emotions

_**Dark Abyss**_

The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders!

 _ **WARRING!: Mentions of suicide, self harm, and abuse**_.

* * *

 ** _~Chapter 3, Teasing Emotions~_**

Devine's face was burring from her impulsive action to kiss the Voltron Leader, her heart hammered ageists her rib cage, wanting another kiss from the Paladin's warm lips.

' _ **Seems you just said your fair well to this world, or rather... kissed it~.'**_ The black lion teased in the dark room, but Devine didn't need to see as the lion's corrupted quintessence was enough of a look. In her senses she could already see it was almost like a mange infested, skin and bones cat like body with torn bat like wings pined to its back by chains made of physical quintessence.

"I may have messed up this world, so I'm gonna set it right." she stated firmly, approaching the corrupted lion who chuckled in realization.

' _ **Oh~ now I can feel it. The resemblance... how did I miss this? I wonder~**_ **'** the lion purred as Devine took deep and steady breaths for what she was about to do. _**'Do you really think you can tame ME!'**_ It asked as Devine felt something snap at her, of course she filched away from it but in doing so, her back hit the hanger doors, the inside of them riddled with claw marks from the black lion's attempts to escape, but the doors where thick and made to keep the lion locked in.

"I-i'm not here to tame you... I'm here to heal you." Devine stuttered as her legs shook and tears dripped down her face as she gave a sad smile.

' _ **What!? Foolish little cub, do you wish to meet with death that badly? Then let me give you an early appointment!'**_ The black lion lunged at her the best it could, its chains seemed to tighten and glow white around the massive lion, stopping it short of crushing Devine in its massive jaws.

' _Bring it on, Obie.'_ Devine though as she laughed sadly, stepping within range and holding her hands out to the Lion's mouth, her eyes narrowed in determination and glowing almost the same shade of purple as the black lion's quintessence. Obsidian roared and lunged for the tiny being, ramming its nose into her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs but Devine firmly planted her crystal claws into the lion's muzzle, purple sparks arching across her body painfully. A desperate, blood curdling scream filled the hanger as the unnatural feeling shot threw the young woman as she trembled in fear.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

" _ **DEVINE**_!"

The Paladins called out her name desperately as they looked at the door in fear and worry.

"Allura! Open them! Now!" Shiro commanded urgently, trying to pry open the door with his bare hands as the princess tried to find some sort of override to open the hanger doors again. "I can't. It seems only the other lions can open the black lion's hanger doors. What possessed them to think this was a good idea?" she asked worriedly form the main deck. "Then lets' get the lions to open them. Where's the roar button at?" Lance asked looking for the nonexistent button desperately. "Did she scream!? I heard her scream! Is she gonna die!?" Hunk asked worriedly as Pidge was frozen in place by the chilling scream.

"Come on Red, we've got to help her. She's in there all alone." Keith pleaded with his lion, trying to move her, but to no avail. "Agh! You liked her so much over me, why are you being so cold to her now?" He asked, slamming his fists on the console and getting a weird static from his controls just before all the Lions roared, letting the doors open again.

Only this time it was all the way, but the humans couldn't see past the blinding purple light that was inside.

"Devine!" Shiro yelled seeing something black and white get tossed into the main hanger, without thinking, the black Paladin caught the limp body of the empath, slam into the front paws of the red lion, the air was knocked from his lungs from catching her, but cradled the weakened female in his arms. Both Shiro's and Devine's eyes opened wide as they glowed a bright white, the Black lion's golden eyes shined bright as the chains crumbled away, the lights inside diming to show that the Black lion was back to its majestic form and watching the two small beings intently.

"What? What happened?" Shiro blinked away the white in his eyes in confusion, he down looked at the woman in his arms; finding her to be a lot heavier then she looked.

' _ **I wouldn't let her know that, My New Paladin~.'**_

"Devine?" Shiro questioned as he saw her eyes drop into an unforced daze, looking too weak to even speak.

' ** _No. I am the Black Lion,_** ** _Obsidian.'_** Devine's voice purred in his mind proudly, as he looked at Devine and then the lion in confusion. " _Obsidian_? You can talk?" He questioned as his eyes widen as he heard the lion scoff. ' _ **Of course I can, not that you would understand my words. My little cub that you have in your arms is translating, so that you may understand me. So I can say this to you only once.'**_

The black lion spoke to him before letting out a powerful roar that shook the castle, even more so as the other lions joined her, voicing their agreement with their powerful leader. Shiro relaxed a little as he smiled while looking down at a nearly out cold Devine. "Of course I will protect her." Shiro agreed readily before Devine's eyes shut going completely slack in his arms.

"Agh! How heavy is she?" he asked, surprised by the short woman's already abnormally heavy weight seemed to increase.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Devine lay on her stomach as she slowly came to, the lavender sheets pulled over her body. Her suit removed leaving her in a lavender tank top and white shorts. She lay in a daze before getting up to look around confused. "This isn't... my room?" she blinked rubbing her eyes as she tried to focus, the bed was larger than she was used to, it could fit about five more people on it comfortably. It was really soft and smelled like Juniberry flowers as she breathed in the scent of the sheets. Her vision clearing and she could see the lavender colored walls that had her confused before she recognized the little lavender bulb on her night stand.

"I'm... really in... the castle of Lions." She smiled softly, sending out her quintessence to feel for the others. She could feel the paladins in their rooms, just down the hall, as Allura and Corran where on the main deck. "What did I miss?" she asked slipping across the silk like sheets before her bare feet touched the floor, getting up on shaky feet she went to her bag and pulled out some extra clothes before going to the private bathroom where her eyes widen in amazement.

"Wow! This is bigger than my old room." she looked at the deep white marble like sink, the thrown like toilet, the glass walk in shower and large in floor bath tub that was more like a small pool, several fancy looking bottles where sitting in a glass case that also had three books and clean towels ready for use. "I think I'll try out that shower first." Devine smiled, as she eagerly stripped and basked in the warm water creasing over her cold skin, washing out her hair and running her claws threw the white strands. She plucked out some troublesome crystals, setting them aside in an empty glass vase, before she came out of the wonderful shower and began dying herself off, getting into clean clothes. A conferrable pair of light gray jeans and a long sleeved lavander top that covered her neck but didn't cover her crystal covered upper back.

Devine looked at her back, the crystals forming two small wing like patterns on her shoulder blades, the newer crystals taking on a slightly different tint form the older ones. Sighing she picked up her baggy black jacket and slipped on her boots before quietly leaving her room, quickly getting her bearings before she made her way to the elevator, checking on the sleeping Paladins as she went.

Lance was dreaming about girls, she rolled her eyes as she felt his excitement and love. Hunk exotic alien food, she chuckled and thought of a few things the yellow paladin might like to know about alien cooking. Pidge was dreaming about finding Matt, a soft smile stretching her lips as she knew it would come true. Keith... was defeating Zarkon, it amused her to also hear the young boy's voice as he slept, growling out their enemies name as he dreamed.

As for Shiro...

Devine stopped in front of his door, knowing and sensing that he was up with restlessness. The image of Shiro working out in his skin tight paladin armor was tempting to see in person, but so was actually helping him get to sleep. Quickly building up her courage, she came closer to his door with a raised fist to knock only to be pleasantly surprised as she got an unrestricted eye full of his, scared, naked chest and neck.

"Miss Devine, you're up." Shrio voiced in slight surprise, a smile tugging on his lips as he saw that she was alright. "Oh! Um, yeah. I was just going to check on everyone. How... how did the battle with Sendak go?" She asked nervously, gulping down her blush as she took in Shiro's scars... having seen where he had gotten them, something tempted her to run her fingers across his scared skin. Only she could feel Shiro's nervousness clearly with him being so close and half naked in front of her.

' _Did the battle go differently? Danm it! Why is he shirtless!? I can't think with a half naked Shiro in front of me!'_ She panicked inwardly biting her lip before Shiro spoke up.

"We formed Voltron and destroyed his Battleship. Are you alright Miss Devine?" he asked, concerned as he saw her looking at all his scars. It made him a little self-conscious to have his scars exposed to her eyes. He was about to reach out for her shoulder only to stop his prosthetic arm from touching her, worried about what she would see if it touched her. So it shocked him to see her actually grab his Galra arm and seem unaffected by whatever she saw.

"I'm fine, just disappointed that I missed seeing Voltron form for the first time in 10,000 years." She told him, holding his hand as she could feel and see what had been done to the Voltron leader threw the imprint, the sites of blood and carnage didn't faze her as much as Shiro's pain and guilt from killing them was heavily imprinted into the prosthetic limb. "There's always next time but if you don't mind me asking..." he closed his prosthetic fingers closed around her hand gently, pink sparks coming from her skin.

"What happened back in the hanger with Obsidian?" Shiro asked, concerned as he looked down at her, biting her lip, a tell sign he had noticed that meant she was not saying something, restraining herself. "She... was corrupted by Zarkon. That's why the others hesitated, because they had to chain her up in the first place." Devine told him, nervous as she was so close to a half naked, attractive young man that was holding her hand and seemed to... care about her from what she could feel emanating from his familiar quintessence.

"Why go in there alone? You could have gotten hurt, or worse." Shiro trailed off as he watched her eyes close and her body relax. Devine could feel his concern wrapping around her like a cozy blanket, it felt nice but her heart was beating loudly in her ears at the feeling. She let herself enjoy it for a moment before letting out a composed breath. "I extracted the corruption, because I knew I could get rid of it." She told him, biting her lip but Shiro didn't want to press her for more details. "You should have let us handle it. Obsidian was growling at me because I said you were heavy." He admitted with a soft smile only to get a rather sudden and forceful fist to his side, where a rather large scare still remained, making him pull away from the woman that was almost the same height as Keith.

"Here's a few tips for you, One: Never call any female heavy, _**EVER**_." She scolded him, smoky gray sparks dancing across her skin, as she let go of his prosthetic hand to raise one finger then another. "Two: my suit has added extra weights added for strength training, and Three:..." she trailed with the last one as Shiro's face was so close to hers as he smiled knowingly.

"I'm glad you're okay, but let me help you next time. You're not alone and you don't have to be." His voice was soft, and sincere as he cupped her cheek with his large, warm, REAL hand. His thumb creasing her sensitive Altean markings as his middle finger pressed into a spot behind her ear that made her shiver, she blushed and sparked pink at the far too soothing motion she didn't want to stop feeling.

"I... I...I've got to check on Allura and Coran!" Devine said suddenly, as she stepped out of the paladin's reach to restrain herself, as a bright red blush and pink sparks danced across her tanned skin. "G-get some sleep. I want to see _all of you_ from Voltron." She explained, looking away from him before literally flying to the elevator, leaving a visible trail of pink sparks in her wake that slowly faded.

Shiro chuckled as he watched the pink sparks, to him they looked like the cherry blossom petals he and his parents used to go see every spring.

"I wonder what emotion pink means." He mused before grabbing some clean clothes before going to shower.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

' _That was even better than expected!'_ Devine thought as she sparked pink and white, the image of a shirtless Shiro exciting her before she took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Calm down, he's not a toy you can play with... he's Obie's paladin and the leader of Voltron." She reasoned with herself as she stopped sparking and gave a worried frown as the two Alteans seemed to have been on the main deck for a while. "I hope I can convince Allura to let them rest. Shiro not sleeping could be the real reason they couldn't form Voltron last time, and maybe some proper food." Devine shivered as she remembered the sewage sludge looking stuff Corran tried to feed them from what her reality showed her.

"I'm glad I got those recipes from Master Antok. Who would have thought he would love cooking." She mused fondly remembering her time training with her masters, Antok having taught her about survival on harsher planets and about edibles that tasted good together. Then he taught her a few common Galra dishes that managed to survive from 10,000 years ago and some his family had made themselves. "I'm sure Hunk's gonna love it. I wonder if I could teach him some of the recipes... would it upset Master Antok if I passed them down?" She pondered before the elevator stopped as she arrived to the main deck, Allura and Corran at the controls.

"Let's test the Alarm systems and our new Paladians." Allura suggested and Corran seemed to agree with her. _**"No!"**_ Devine boomed as she flew to physically stop the princess, and let the humans get their much needed REM sleep. "Miss Devine, I see your up and doing well." Allura smiled at the woman, looking a little worried for the older Altean female. "We almost thought the Black lion, had killed you, but Shiro assured us that you just needed some rest." Allura seemed genuinely happily to see her, making Devine let go of her before she let out a sigh. "Yes, and so do the Paladins. Give them a few more Varga and they will be refreshed and able to start training." she suggested, making the princess pout. "No. The universe has suffered long enough under Zarkon's rule. They must wake to form Voltron till they can do it in their sleep. Then they can rest." Allura reasoned as Devine shook her head in disagreement.

"Be reasonable here Allura. They were taken trillions of light-years away from their home, thrust into a strange new world to begin a war with a powerful, and experienced warrior leading a massive empire, the likes of which their kind have never even **_seen_ **before, and even putting the responsibility of winning said war on their shoulders is just to much!" Devine ranted worriedly, taking a deep breath before continuing for the Paladins' behalf. "Before this, their biggest problem was Homework, getting good grades, and even just getting back home with some ice for some fucking stupid research!" Devine yelled, trembling as she cursed, clenching her fists into tight balls before composing herself, the Altens looked at her with wide eyed shock.

"I know you want to avenge Altea, your father, and everyone that has suffered because of Zarkon's greed for quintessence but..." Devine informed the princess who thought about it for a moment, hesitating, the older woman could see a way to convince the Altean royal. "It's better to do things right, then quickly. We can and will defeat Zarkon and _ALL_ of his followers. **_IF_ **we take our time and build up our own solid faction against him to back the Paladins... so they don't have to carry this heavy burden alone." She reasoned as the princess started at her wide eyed as tears started to build in the Altean girl's eyes, along with a feeling of familiarity falling between them.

"W-what's wrong Lura?" Devine asked, startled by the tears as she reflexively wiped way the princess tear's gently, creasing the pink markings that faintly glowed at her touch."That's what Queen Amora used to say to Allura when she was younger." Coran explained, looking a bit pained at the mention of the Altean queen. It was confusing as there was never any mention of Allura's mother before, yet the woman was coming up so often.

" _It is better to do things right, then quickly_." Allura parroted with a sad smile, making Devine want to ask about the queen's fate, but also not upset the princess anymore then she was already. "Yes. Give the paladins four more Vargas at least. I'll even make us all something nice for breakfast. " She suggested, trying to temp them with food, making a note to find some proper Altean recipes.

" _ **NO!"**_ The Alteans shouted in fear, surprising the empath at the sudden dread. "Was the queen... not a good cook?" Devine assumed as they both looked sheepish at their reason for being so fearful.

"No, I would say the last time she tried to cook; she had the pervious paladins out sick for a week." Coran explained as Allura giggled softly. "Yes, Mother told me the story. She just wanted to make Father a little sick with some cookies, but the other Paladin's ended up eating them as well." Allura mused. Devine had to smile at the story, wondering if that was what brought Zarkon and Honerva together, if they weren't already.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Shiro sighed in contentment as he dried his hair with a towel, walking back to his room from the showers. Having enjoyed the scorching hot water running over his body, his prosthetic arm not needing to be removed and handled the water without any problems. He had needed a shower for the longest time, to clean all the dirt, grime, dead skin, and dried blood from his body. All his visible scares had healed rather well, but he couldn't recall how he got many of them. His time in Galra captivity was a big blur and it was painful to remember any of it. He had hurt people with and without his prosthetic arm; the strange colored dried blood washing away from its crevices was evidence of that before the water seemed to purify him with it's comforting heat.

'So c _ute~.'_

Shiro blinked at the sudden voice as he looked down the hall at Devine, who blushed as soon as she noticed he had spotted her. "Enjoy your shower?" She asked, smiling a little at how attractive he looked in baggy black sweat pants, a white tank top with a white towel around his shoulders, steam coming off his skin making him look sinfully hot. However with his white strands of hair looking like a cotton ball on a fluffy black cat, Devine found the look more adorably cute in her mind.

"Yeah, I was just headed off to bed. You?" he asked casually, confused by the cute comment he heard from her. "Checking in on the others, go get some sleep. You're gonna need it for training tomorrow." She told him with a soft smile as the paladin nodded, going into his room as Devine checked on the others, still dreaming away. Unfortunately dreams and sleep where avoiding Shiro, as lay awake with his mind racing with different thoughts and worries, before he heard some familiar sounding foot steps before his door quietly opened. He looked over and saw Devine with a glass of water coming into his room before he could even give her permission to.

"Still awake?" she asked as Shiro gave her a sad smile. "Yeah." He admitted sitting up before she offered him the glass. Giving her a grateful thanks, he downed the whole glass in a few gulps, the water had tasted a little strange but it did it's job cool his heated insides. Shiro was starting to relax as he let his eyes close a little, before he felt fingers gently brushing his hair, opening his eyes suddenly he saw Devine petting his white fringe in childish amusement.

"It's so soft~." She whispered softly before noticing Shiro's sliver eyes looking at her. "Sorry." Devine apologized, bushing as she retracted her hand from his quickly with a small pout. "You must have suffered a lot of stress. That color isn't normal for a human your age to have." She mentioned softly, knowing that humans could get white hair from either extreme stress or age, and Shiro would be 25-26 years old, if she wasn't going by his birthday of February 29.

"I don't remember much of it." Shiro looked at the floor in shame, missing the look of disappointment on the woman's face. "Yeah. All that fighting in the arena could get pretty gruesome." She admitted as Shiro felt shock and fear as he looked at her in disbelief. "I never mentioned I fought in the arena." he responded, his body tensing as Devine bit her lip. She would have to partly lie to him, but he didn't remember her even if when she was so close.

"I've... seen you fight in the arena, before you... lost your arm." She mentioned, looking at the prosthetic arm sadly. "You where a prisoner too?" Shiro asked, concerned and worried as he started to wonder what she was doing in the same place as him.

"No. I was hidden among the Audience with Master Regris." She told him before she felt his anger appear so suddenly. "You where a _slave_?" The paladin growled angrily as Devine paled at what he had assumed she had been to the kind Galra. "No. That's what I call my teachers, I was apprenticing under Master Regris at the time and... I asked him to take me there to see the fights there." She explained urgently, looking away nervously before feeling him calm down from his sudden bout of anger. "I've watched you fight, and I knew you would be a Palladian of Voltron. I believed almost all the stories they told about Volton and the paladins. Master Regris was almost convinced about them too until-" she cut herself off, biting her lip nervously.

"Until?" Shiro prompted gently, watching her turn her head away from him.

"Do you... really not remember me?" She asked unsurely, biting her lip as Shiro looked at her in confusion before frowning. "I don't think I really paid much attention to the audience as much as my opponents." He confessed, wondering why she seemed to think he would remember her from his time as a prisoner. "Should I remember you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the young woman, looking at her carefully before she shook her head in dismissal. "It's not important. I can help you get some sleep if you want to give it a try." She suggested, her golden eyes locking with his sliver for a moment, Shiro felt himself relax as he got a good look into them, feeling something warm spread grow inside his chest.

"I don't see why not." he responded almost breathlessly as Devine nodded, gently pushing backwards onto the single, bunk like bed. She fought the temptation to slip into bed with him, as she only kneeled on the floor, her hands where placed over his heart and forehead. Pink and white sparks flickering in contact for a second before stopping completely. "Just relax and take slow deep breaths." Devine told him as she let a soft blue mist seep into Shiro's body, taking calming cool breaths and within seconds he was fast asleep, giving a light snore as sleep finally embraced him.

She suppressed an amused giggle at how cute the paladin looked just sleeping, watching his chest softly rise and fall in a calm rhythm for a few ticks. Blushing as a tempting idea came to her, crushing the thought as she stroked Shiro's white fringe once before getting off the floor. Carefully bending over to plant a soft, innocent little kiss on his forehead before pulling a soft light blue blanket over him. Suppressing her excitement at her small achievement, Devine left with the glass that had a little ' _extra'_ in it to help with any nightmares standing in the way of some well deserved sleep _._

" _Sleep tight, Takashi~."_ She mused softly, before leaving his room reluctantly.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Helping Coran with a few repairs had her exploring the castle as well as being productive. It her something interesting yet important to do while the paladins slept, leaving only the Alteans and her self awake for Arus short night cycle. Finding a few interesting rooms and locked doors before she began browsing threw the massive library for helpful books she could read later, doing a bit of meditation to maintain a stable sanity until she started to explore the sewing room.

Golden eyes sparkled as she ran her fingers over the colorful fabrics in the queen's old sewing room, a whole wall dedicated to nothing but soft, silky, and beautiful fabrics. Numerous drawings of beautiful dresses filled several sketch books along with a few pictures of Allura wearing, the dress that was drawn on the pages. The princess looked so happy wearing each dress, an unrestrained smile on her face as a child that slowly became more fitting of a princess into a demure up turned lips slightly parted to hint at pearly white teeth.

Devine's eyes sparked as she sported other dress styles that didn't seem to fit Allura's taste of long, bright and regal dresses that would suit any princess. Only she found her self loving the short, dark and flowy dresses that wouldn't be out of place on a stage performer or even a dancer. Then the dresses transitioned into more masculine looking suits, spotting a dark purple suit with a lighter diamond shaped pattern along it's edges, instantly falling in love with it. "The guys would look pretty handsome in Altean suits." She giggled, thinking of the suits they would wear that matched their lions before the whole room went red and alarms blared.

"Has it been four Vargas already?" she asked shocked as she looked for something like a clock before she heard Allura's voice over the intercom, a bit too loudly.

 _'Everybody up! Zarkon is attacking, we need Voltron NOW!'_

Devine cringed at the volume before she could feel four of the five paladins wake up suddenly with a hit of panic as they rushed to the main deck. With a sigh she left the sewing room to walk into Lance's room, finding him still fast asleep with Pidge's headphones covering his ears.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Oh, no! Devine has been kidnapped and Allura is dead! Aw, it's horrible! Her head fell off!" Coran yelled into the mic, faking tears as he tried to convince the paladins of their threat."Wait! What? Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura's head? What are your final words?" Coran said, falling to his knees, cradling air as if he actually had the talking served head of Allura. "Coran." Allura called his name, slightly annoyed as four paladins, dressed in their casual clothes, made it to the main deck watching Coran act out his little radio show, unamused. "Oh, yes, Princess, I'm listening." Coran perked up, looking at his princess, oblivious to the paladins in the room, mic still on.

"It's over." Allura told him but Coran kept up with the ruse.

"I know! If only Voltron was formed in time!" The altean whiled before he noticed the present paladins.

"I guess this wasn't an actual attack." Shiro sighed, relived that Zarkon was not at their door step, letting out a tired yawn as he was dressed in his casual clothes like Keith and Pidge, only Hunk was still in pajamas. "It's a good thing, too. It wasn't because it took you... Coran?" Allura scolded, trying to be stern and strong like Devine and Shiro as she looked at Coran, who had a small device ready in his hand. "Seventy-five degrees." Coran reported before realizing something was wrong.

"Oh! Sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer." He said as he realized his error that did not please the princess before she adressed the paladins.

"However long it was, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! None of you are in uniform! Where are your bayards? Shiro, you're the leader! Your supposed to be the example the other paladins follow, and where is Lance?" Allura asked, crossing her arms over her chest, looking at the four Paladins as Coran's nose twitched.

"This scent? Could it be?" he asked, sniffing around in the air for something.

"What is it Coran?" Allura asked, confused by her aid's sudden interest in a smell as the mustached Altean started to sniff the paladins. "What are you looking for?" Shiro asked as Coran sniffed around Hunk, who looked a little nervous having the Altean trying to smell him.

"Nope. Not here." Coran dismissed Hunk as the source, before moving on to sniff Pidge. Much to the Large Paladin's relief and the smallest paladin's discomfort. "Negatory." The advisor concluded as Pidge let out a relived sigh as Coran's eyes locked onto Keith next. The red paladin slowly backed away from the strange man who just grabbed him before gave a big sniff of his scent, to far into the teen's personal space.

"Oh~! You smell very nice, but no. It's not you eather." Coran confirmed before getting one sniff of Shiro. Pausing as his eyes widen in shock and surprise as he leaned in very closely to the Black paladin, sniffing his chest and up to the white fringe of hair on his forehead.

"It's _YOU_!" Coran accused, pointing at a shocked and confused paladin.

"Coran, what where you sniffing out?" Allura asked, as the Altean looked closely at the black paladin's normally gray eyes that held a very slight tint of blue to them. "A secret mixture that kidnappers use to make their targets go to sleep. I have been trained to sniff it out for Allura's safety and _YOU-_." Coran narrowed his eyes at Shiro who was shocked and confused as he processed the information. "Have it on your breath. Although it was a small dose my sniffer still sniffed it out. " He stated with pride and a puffed out chest.

"So... someone tried to kidnap Shiro?" Pidge asked, looking at the older paladin in confusion as his eyes widen in surprise at the idea."Does that mean there's someone else in the castle?" Hunk asked, confused but was far more tired then worried as he yawned loudly. "No, I think it was Miss Devine who gave it to me." Shiro confessed, remembering the strange tasting water, but before he could ponder her motives, Devine walked in with a tired looking but fully dressed Lance.

"What was all that noise about?" He asked, annoyed to be woken up from his beauty sleep, even if it was by a lovely woman. Devine had been sadistic enough to shock him until he was awake. "Is something wrong?" Devine asked as they all looked at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. Before anyone could speak, Coran grabbed her hands and sniffed them carefully, confirming that the same smell was coming from her. "So it was you Miss Devine." Coran accused, as she looked at them in shocked confusion.

"Am I missing something here?" she asked, not familiar with this event from her original reality. She just decided to try and wake up Lance, and for Shrio to get some decent sleep for the longest time in a while.

"You drugged Shiro?" Keith asked bluntly, looking at her with suspicion.

"W-what!?" she asked, not sure how to respond to the accusation other then shocked, with a little fear and a little embarrassment at being caught so easily. "It was in that water you gave me, wasn't it?" Shrio asked, not looking or feeling mad at all, if anything he seemed grateful and a bit more relaxed then before. Devine nodded not trusting her voice as she tried to process the Paladin's current feelings displayed by his quintessence.

"Is that why you asked to give them more time? So it could wear off?" Allura asked, amazed at the woman's planning and cunning. "Yes. It wouldn't do well if any of them where tried. Aside from Shiro, the others are still in their developmental stages. They need plenty of rest and good nutrition among other things." Devine explained but looked at the younger paladins who were unconvinced of her true intentions.

" _Right~_ so how deep of a sleep does that stuff give you?" Lance asked, looking around with interest. "Oh, very deep. You could handle their bodies however roughly you wanted for a varga with just a teaspoon of the stuff." Coran helpfully explained giving his eye brows a little wiggle. Devine could feel what some of them where thinking, making her and Shiro blush red at the implication as she also let off pink sparks.

"Embarrassment?" Keith muttered to himself before Allura spoke up to get their attention again.

"Regardless. Miss Devine, Coran and myself have been up for hours getting the castle back in working order. So we had to run a test on alarms and decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed." she added with disappointment heavy in her voice and quintessence.

"Hey!" Hunk shouted before yawning tiredly.

"You got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space in a yellow cat mech, fought some evil purple alien named Sendak, and eaten goo in some weird old castle. That's a lot to process in, uh... I don't know. What day is today?" He asked, disoriented as he tried to think about the days of the week. "It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump day!" Coran explained happily with a wide smile on his face despite being unhelpful. Devine giggling as he said the phrase she was used to a silly camel saying in old commercials.

"It's a lot to process." Hunk's shoulders slouched, mentally exhausted from his experience so far. _'Hopefully meeting Shay will light a fire in him.'_ Devine mused with a small smile, finding the two to be a cute couple. Then her eyes wondered up to the triangle drone orbiting around Pidge, looking at it worriedly.

"You must understand the stakes of our mission." Allura voiced grimly, a holographic screen showed up around them. "Over the last 10,000 years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations." A holographic universe showed them a small fraction of planets in blue, with the rest in red, showing where Zarkon's Empire had spread like an unstoppable force without Voltron or anyone else to stop him.

"It's safe to assume Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe." Allura looked at all the red grimly, before she turned the map to show the further reaches of the universe, where there was a familiar blue planet and solar system sat just outside Zarkon's reach. "Earth is here, and the chances of a Galra attacking and your planet is inevitable." Allura looked at the small blue planet that was home to billions of humans and many more creatures.

"Oh no." Hunk paled, Devine could feel his fear as she clenched her fists, yellow sparks arching around them as she bit her lip to keep herself from worrying them anymore then they already where.

"Exactly." Allura nodded. "Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin the fight ageists Zarkon." She told them, looking at Devine who wrapped her arms around her middle, shivering. "The Princess is right." Shiro agreed, trying to give off good emotions for Devine, who looked terrified enough for all of them. "Let's get to our lions and start training." he tried to encourage before Pidge spoke up. "Wait! I wanna talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship." The smallest paladin asked their leader, looking desperate. "Ah! Negative, Number five! I have you ranked by height, okay?" Coran piped up, spreading his arms to show off Pidge's height. "The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."

"That's right. No more distractions, get to your lions." Allura commanded them as the other Paladins left, Keith looking at Devine unsurely before leaving as Shiro approached her carefully. "Miss Devine? Are you alright?" he asked seeing the rainbow of sparks that come off her body. _'Yellow is fear, White is Excitement, gray is anger...'_ Shiro recalled the colors with how she seemed to feel at the time, before he noticed red and black sparks in the mix.

Devine let out a slow breath before she responded to him uneasily.

"I-I'm fine, I knew a lot of creatures from some of those planets... I couldn't help them very much." she admitted, shyly and flinched as she felt a hand on her shoulder, only relaxing when she noticed it was just Shiro, giving off his emotion of concern to her. It felt so comforting; she wanted to drown in it for a little bit as she missed the Voltron leader's words of thanks and assurance, leaving her in a light daze on the main deck.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Should someone go in after him?" Lance asked, as four of the five lions arrived on the bridge to the castle once they left their hangar bays, waiting for Hunk and Topaz to come out of the castel so that they could get their training over with.

"Hi, guys. Sorry, everybody." Hunk apologized sheepishly as he flew Topaz onto the bridge with the others. "Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the bridge?" he asked, not impressed with the over the top _quick way_ to the lions. "I mean Miss Devine beat us to the lions, and she _walked_!" he pointed out, not amused that the woman had beaten them all to the hanger by simply walking and taking the elevator, she was even conversing with Topaz, the yellow lion before Hunk finally got to the hanger, waiting with his speeder bike that had yet to enter the lion.

 _"We can sort that out later Hunk, right now practice on your Voltron formation."_ Devine spoke up from her position above the entrance to black lion's hanger on the main deck, since it's display was the only one she could read clearly enough, unlike with the others. "She's right, guys. Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync." Shiro ordered, glad Devine was better as the lions ran and flew in formation up in the sky. "Feel the bond with your lion, and your fellow pilots. Five will become one unit and you will have form Voltron!" Allura encouraged, her face appearing on their screen in the lions.

" **Yeah!** " Everyone cheered together as they in sync in the sky, sprits flying s high as their lions.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

" **Yeah!** " The group cheered, less enthusiastic as they flew the other way, trying to from Voltron, Devine was conflicted on helping them before opening one of the books she got form the castle library.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

" **Yeah**." Everyone said as they flew another way, still in formation but Devine could see Keith and Lance where starting to lag behind before she went back to the book.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

" **Yay**." Everyone said weakly as they flew another way, Devine reading a cook book she had gotten from the library for this moment, along with a pleasantly convenient, Altean-Galra dictionary to help her translate.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

" _Whoo!..._ Am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?" Hunk asked, noticing he was the only one giving a response to their now sloppy formation flying. "Clearly, this isn't working. Let's set down for a little bit." Shiro voiced, getting frustrated with the lack of progress. "Miss Devine?" he called her name as ember eyes blinked and looked up from the old books as she appeared on his screen. "Yes?" she questioned, mostly lazing about in the main control room, monitoring the paladins as Allura was fixing something from her station. "Got any ideas on what we are doing wrong. Besides the princess and Coran, you seem to know the most about Voltron." He asked, as Devine smiled at being asked for help.

"Well just flying in formation alone isn't gonna cut it. You guys have to be in sync-"

"We are in sync!" Lance complained, cutting her off.

"Then why no Voltron? Look. What I'm saying is that _physically_ being in sync alone isn't gonna from Voltron. You have to have your minds and hearts linked together as well." She told them as she put a hand over her heart. "It's almost like a Waltz." She explained only to get groans for the younger paladins.

"I have two left feet." Hunk admitted shamefully.

"I passed on dance classes." Pidge waved it off.

"I just don't like dancing." Keith divulged with disinterest.

"Why a Waltz?" Lance asked with a disappointed pout.

Shiro sighed as Devine shook her head at their little group. "It doesn't have to be a Waltz. Most music just follows one rhythm, so let's all pick a song together so we can get all of you in sync." She asked, opening a pandora's box as they argued about what song to follow.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Well that didn't work." Devine pouted, disappointed they still didn't from Voltron, but she expected something to go wrong with her idea in the first place. "Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up." Keith suggested, giving up on the music idea after not being able to pick a song."What do you mean?" Shiro questioned, willing for more solutions to their problem."I mean, let's try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other." Keith explained, confusing the others.

"Like a cheerleader pyramid?" Lance questioned, thinking of girls in skirts stacking on top of one another.

"You got a better idea?" Keith snapped back.

"It's worth a shot." Devine mused, eger to see the rest of their funny ideas as the image of the paladins in cheer uniforms came to mind. ' _I wonder if I can get them into **those** uniforms.' _She grinned wickedly as she watched them try and stack the lions, and fail as Topaz was on top of Obsidian, Shiro also noticed the added weight to his lion.

"Hunk, what are you doing?" Shiro asked, unamused by the extra weight on his lion, and neither was she.

"What do you mean?" Hunk questioned innocently. "You're supposed to be the leg over there." Shiro deadpanned while pointing to the left of Sapphire, where Hunk should be with Topaz. "What? No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head. Right?" Hunk asked, innocently as Devine held back a chuckle.

"You yelled, _'I'm a leg'_!" Lance argued, being on the bottom.

"Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things." Hunk tried to defend himself.

"Shiro's the head." Keith corrected as Hunk pouted.

"All the time?" he asked, a little deflated.

"Let's just try it my way for now." Shiro replied, feeling mentally exhausted already.

"Okay, but next time I call head." Hunk declared, as Devine shook with amusement as they rearranged. Sapphire and Topaz where on the bottom to form the legs, Ruby and Peridot on top of them before Obsidian lowered onto their backs carefully. "Okay. Arms, legs, and I'll form the head. Feel the bonds with your lions. Channel your energy into forming Voltron. Focus... Focus..." Shiro encouraged as he tried to focus on forming Voltron like the others.

There was just wind and birds for a moment before Devine busted out laughing, startling them with the sudden noise and making the lions fall into a heap on the ground. "Devine! What's wrong!?" Shiro asked, worried by the sudden outburst as he pulled up the screen to see the laughing woman. "S-s-sorry I-I can't h-h-help it! AGH!" she laughed, amused by the lion pile but also something was crawling around her clothes. Slowly, a blue, angry looking mouse popped up over her shoulder, then a pink on top her head, a small blue one from her sleeve, and then a big yellow one from inside her jacket collar.

"Lucky Rat." Lance muttered as Devine calmed down from the mice climbing inside her clothes. "Well I guess they wanted to say hello." She mused pulling out the yellow mouse form her shirt, and giving it a gentle pet on its head. "Why was this so much easier before?" Lance whined as he slouched in his chair, the other paladins wondering something similar.

"Let's take a break." Shiro sighed loudly, strangely feeling a little peeved at the mice for invading Devine's clothes with a light blush on his cheeks.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help." Allura appeared on screen, and Devine looked worried, as the mice gathered on her shoulders. "Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle."

"Yeah, I guess." Keith agreed, not knowing where the princess was going.

' _Sorry Shiro.'_ Devine thought as the Black Paladin blinked in confusion as he could have sworn he heard Devine's voice in his head."Perfect! Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle's defenses. This should help!" Allura added with glee activating the castle's barrier before it started shooting lasers at the lions. The Paladins screaming while trying to avoid the lasers. "Okay, whoa, whoa!" Lance yelled as he and Sapphire dogged the rapid firing lasers. "Allura, what are you doing?!" Keith exclaimed and her and Ruby evaded the shots with some difficulty. "Running a diagnostic test on the Castle defenses and inspiring you! I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!" Allura cheered thinking she was doing them some good, as Devine pet the mice in worry, not fully agreeing with the Princess's method of harsh motivation.

"Forget this! I'm heading back to the Castle!" Lance yelled, Sapphire making her way to the castle only to run head first into the castle barrier and be bounce back painfully. "Please stop! Please! Have mercy on us!" Hunk yelled as Topaz was slower and bigger than the rest, yet having the thickest armor. "You think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you? He's probably on his way right now to destroy us all!" Allura declared angrily before she walked away from the console with a final command.

" _Auto-lock-on engaged._ " A computerized voice announced, Devine could feel everyone's panic and dread before Allura turned to her. "Now. What are these Earth snacks you will be preparing? The mice and I are very interested in these _muffins_." the princess asked, her light blue eyes sparking with interest as the mice squeaked in agreement.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine was in the kitchen, setting down four _'space muffins'_ for the small mice, who happily dug into the tasty smelling treat. After politely waiting for them to cool down from baking inside of the Altean equivalent of an oven. Devine set aside a water dish and some fruit, chopped down into small pieces for the mice to nibble on. She smiled at the rodents fondly, listening to their genuinely happy squeaks as they ate. It was one of the reasons she preferred animals over most _'intelligent'_ creatures, they always expressed their true emotions, unless badly hurt, they would either like you or hate you, no in-between or 50 shades of gray.

Letting out a relived sigh, she picked up two trays, one topped neatly with warm muffins, and the other had several glasses of mixed fruit smoothies, topped with cute little umbrellas and straws. Walking out of the kitchen and into what could be dubbed as, the Living room, where four of the five paladins where lounging around after dogging the castle's auto locked lasers for a few hours, looking defeated and tired as they didn't respond to her entrance.

"Who wants a little pick me up?" Devine asked, slightly amused as they all looked up at her quickly, seeing the treats as if they where sent from some divine realm. "Are... are those _muffins_?" Hunk asked, sniffing the air excitedly as Devine walked into the middle of where they where lounging, presenting the trays proudly. "Sure are. Made with a super secret family recipe, and some smoothies made with the native fruits of Arus, toped with little umbrellas. Just to give them a more, tropical feel." Devine mussed as they all took a drink and muffin before eagerly devouring them.

"Don't eat them to fast. You guys still have training, and doing it on a full stomach isn't a very good idea." She warned them as the young paladins happily ate the new, yet familiar confections. "These are really _divine_ ~. Just like the angel who made them." Lance flirted as he drank his smoothie, feeling lighter and energized form the thoughtful snack. Devine smiled softly as she felt their sprits lift with the simple treat.

 _'There goes the carrot, and now for the stick.'_ She thought, just before the Alteans entered the room.

"Are we at full power on condenser number five yet?" Allura questioned as she walked in, the paladins mood quickly souring. "No, still just 84 percent." Coran responded before the princess noticed the younger paladins in the room. "You did it! You formed Voltron!" Allura smiled happily as she saw them, Devine still feeling nervousness coming from the princess. "No. The shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in." Keith informed her, making her sprits fall.

"What!?" The princess snapped angrily as Devine rose her hand in admittance.

"I turned them off. We don't need the Castle destroying the Lions, or the Lions destroying the castle." She reasoned before offering Coran his own drink and a muffin which he curiously tried the unfamiliar treat. "Besides, Coran said he needed to test the fire suppressors, he couldn't very well do that while the Castel is firing away at moving targets." She pointed out as the mustached Altean finished the last of his muffin. "She does have a point princess." Coran agreed, making Allura feel hurt and a little betrayed by her _trusted_ advisor siding with the older woman that no one really knew well. Yet she seemed to be able to take command from the royal Altean princess almost as easily as-

"What are you guys doing in here?" Shiro asked as he came into the room, looking disappointed and frustrated about something. "We're not done yet and our break is over." He barked at the younger paladins who looked away in shame as Allura's mood brightened with the black paladin on her side. "Shiro's right, **_ALL_** of you should be training." Allura enforced as she glared at Devine, feeling more confident in her self before the woman shook her head in disagreement.

' _To much stick.'_ Devine thought before looking pleadingly at the dissatisfied princess.

"Allura. Shiro and I know firsthand how cruel the Galra can be, the others haven't seen even a sliver of it yet. I don't know how they operated on Earth, but winning a war with a massive alien empire is not even in their dreams, except for Keith and even then he dreams of fighting an honorable Zarkon that doesn't use any dirty tricks." She admitted, making Keith blush as the others looked at him with mild interest.

Devine carefully approached Shiro, with a soft pleading smile on her lips that made him tense and his heart beat a bit faster as she stopped at arms length away from him. "Shiro, if we want to take down Zarkon, we need to do things right, not quickly." she explained, Allura feeling shame as she heard her mother's phrase being used against her decisions again. "Their tired, and so are you mentally. Let rest be your ally. You could even think of it more like a bonding break to work on getting closer as a team." she suggested, reaching out to him with her left hand and placing it over the Black Voltron insignia, instead of his unprotected face. Devine had planed to use her strange gift to influence him, before stopping herself as Shiro's shoulders relaxed without the use of her powers. The older paladin letting out a slow breath as he relaxed, processing her words carefully.

"I-your right, but what are those?" Shiro asked looking at the drinks curiously, as she smiled a little. "Fruit smoothies, made from the local fruits, and muffins made with-" She started but blinked in confusion at seeing an empty tray of crumbs, two Alteans and Hunk being the closest to it. "These are delicious!" Allua praised in surprise as she polished off her fourth muffin, Coran brushing out the crumbs in his mustache. Leaving Hunk was the only one who looked bashful at getting caught eating the last muffin.

Shiro pouted in disappointment before Devine suppressed a chuckle, finding it amusing that Allura liked a Galra recipe. "Don't worry, I made more. I'll just go check to see if the mice left them alone." She mused intending to walk to the kitchen as Shiro moved to follow her, only to have her pick up a glass hand it to him with a soft smile. "You, sit down and rest. Bond with your team, you're their leader but that doesn't mean you can't be their friend too." She told him, leaving the room before he could respond. Shiro watched her leave, being a little stunned in place by her subjection as the other paladins watched him staring at retreating her back.

"I hate to see Miss Devine leave, but I'm starting to love watching her walk away." Lance mussed as he watched the woman leave with mild interest.

" _Lance_!" Shiro hissed sternly, giving the blue paladin a stern glare before Devine reappeared with a pleased smile and a tray of muffins, with the Altean mice on her shoulders looking proud of themselves. "Good news! They where little sweet hearts and left the rest alone." She announced before setting the tray down and picking up her own drink to help them bond.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Alright Paladins, your code demands that you put the safety of your teammates, and the Princess, before your own. A swarm of drowns are about to attack, get ready!" Coran explained as he was in the observation room above the large, almost arena like training room. "I can defend myself Coran. I'm not a _princess_." Devine argued, standing in the center of the Paladin's formation, dressed in the purple and white suit that once belonged to the Galra Empress. half a dozen small orbs appeared and circled around them. "Don't worry _princess_ ; we'll take care of these drones in no time." Lance boasted confidently, tossing a smirk over his shoulder at Devine, making the older woman scowl at the pet name he used, but she said not thing to the young paladin.

"It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team." Coran instructed as shields appeared in the Paladin's hands. "Wait, wait, wait. What's going on? Whoa. Did you guys get one of these?" Hunk asked, looking at his little shield that was only the size and length of his arm. "Get ready, hold your ground." Shiro ordered as a drone fired at Hunk, who let out a yelp before narrowly dogging it, the laser about to hit Devine before she summoned her own shield to block it.

"I'll just assume this suit doesn't have its own shield, _Coran_." She growled unhappily as she used a small, shield that looked like a transparent white diamond, instead of the teal rectangular shield the Paladins had.

"Protect your teammates or no one will be there to protect you!" Coran shouted as Hunk dunked behind Devine as they traded spots, before she summoned another shield for added protection. "Come on now. Not even Miss Devine can protect you forever." Coran voiced as a hole in the floor opened just under her feet, caught off guard Devine started to float in the air as she protected the paladins around her.

 ** _"CORAN!"_** she yelled loudly in annoyance, the mustached Altean pouting at his failed plan of separating the female from the paladins, so instead he opened up a hole under the cowering Hunk. "Agh!" The yellow Paladin screamed, scared as he vanished into the floor.

"Hunk!" Pidge cried out, becoming distracted as a laser managed to hit them, and the green paladin was sucked into a hole in the floor as well.

"Time to increase intensity!" Coran yelled as he had the drones speed up around the group and unleashing a rapid fire of lasers as those remaining nearly pressed their backs together. "You keeping up over there, Keith?" Lance asked, feeling confident as he had Devine and Shiro protecting his sides and Keith at his back. "Yeah, just concentrate on keeping me safe." Keith responded as he deflected the lasers coming at them, making Lance scoff. "Me? I own this drill. You're the one who needs to concentr- _ate_!" Lance screamed as the drones went low to the floor, a laser almost hit his unprotected leg before the Cuban boy pulled it out of harm's way, which allowed a drone to hit Keith's unguarded back. A hole appeared under the red paladin disappeared into the floor, leaving Lance's back unguarded, being the next to get hit and fall into the mysterious hole in the floor.

Coran's face met his palm as he let out a tired groan, growing frustrated with the new paladins failing the simple training exercises. Leaving their leader and their self proclaimed, liaison, to deal with the drones' onslaught.

Shiro and Devine pressed their backs together being the only ones left standing in the room. "Leave no room for attack." Shiro yelled over the rapid firing of lasers as Devine summoned more shields to protect their sides, concentrating on maintaining several at a time as they where hit repeatedly. The drones then blurred into a spinning ring around them, firing lasers almost continuously

at the pair. "How many of those shields can you make?" the paladin asked, glancing at the small shields briefly before getting a response. "Just jump and we'll see." She suggested, concentrating on the six drones, mentally seeing their attack pattern and speed, neither of them noticing the soft glow in their eyes.

 _'JUMP!'_ Devine thought just as Shiro made a powerful leap into the air, leaving the woman unguarded for a fraction of a second. The woman managed to throw several white shards at the drones, piercing right threw their targets leaving small holes that ran right threw the Altean machines. Just as Shiro landed on his feet, the drones fell uselessly to the floor, the paladin looking at the destroyed drones with a satisfied smirk, one that Devine unknowingly mirrored despite not even looking at him.

"Wow! Beautiful work, Miss Devine, and that was some good thinking on your part Number one. You two are quite accomplished. Now, lets move on to the next exorcise." Coran praised as he watched the two closely, having noticed something strange between the two as they worked together.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Lance stood alone on the training room floor, in the middle of a simple looking maze that had invisible walls as the other paladins where up in the observation room watching. "To form Voltron, you must trust in each other. This ancient paladin maze will teach you all that trust. Your teammate can see the walls, but you cannot. So, listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you'll get a slight shock." Coran explained as they watched, Devine knowing that it would not go over well for Lance, and the other to a lesser degree possibly.

"Okay. Who's guiding me through?" Lance asked before Keith spoke up from observing the maze displayed before him on screen. "Take two steps forward." Keith instructed over the mic and Lance was not happy to hear the red paladin's voice. "Oh, no. Not Keith! Why does he get to be the man on the mic?" Lance complained as he looked up at him up on the deck. "Now, just sit tight. You'll get your turn." Coran assured as Keith repeated himself a bit more annoyed. "Like I said, take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps that direction." He instructed. Lance grumbled in complaint but turned right instead taking two steps forward, immediately he got shocked by the invisible wall.

"Coran! That was not a slight shock! Devine's shocks didn't even hurt this bad!" Lance complained as he glared accusingly at Keith. "And you did that on purpose!"

"You're not listening." Keith shot back, eye twitching in annoyance. "You said, turn right." Lance repeated part of the instructions. "Before that, I said, Take two steps forward." Keith repeated as Lance frowned and walked forward, only to be shocked again. "That's it! We're switching places right now!" Lance yelled angrily as he pointed up at Keith as the other's watched Lance get shocked even more as he tried to make it out of the maze by himself.

"Lance isn't very good with directions is he?" Devine asked worriedly as Hunk and Pidge shook their heads in confirmation.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

After they finally got Lance through the maze, Pidge was next, guided by Hunk, Devine giving the large paladin a little encouragement to get the green paladin safely through. Hunk was next to enter the maze, guided by Lance, and the yellow paladin had made it out with only getting shocked three times thanks to his friends directions. Shiro got through the maze the quickest with Pidge guiding him safely threw. Leaving Keith to be instructed by Devine, much to Lance's disappointment as the red paladin made it out safely, but not as quickly as Shiro and Pidge, having hesitated a slightly at the strange woman's instructions.

Coran then instructed Devine to enter the maze, confusing the woman slightly.

"Coran, why am I down here?" she asked, waiting as the maze rearranged around her so that none of them could just memorize the way out. "Well you are a part of this team Miss Devine. You also seem to have quite the bond with each of the lions. Only fair you do this exorcise as well." He pointed out as Shiro studied the layout of the new maze. "Don't worry Miss Devine; I'll lead you in the right direction." Shiro's voice suddenly entered her ears, making the woman forget her retort as she blushed from hearing his alluring voice.

"S-sure. Lead the way then." Devine responded calmly, trying not to get distracted from the task a hand. "Take two steps to your left then go four steps forward." The black paladin instructed as Devine followed his instructions obediently, willing to complete the pointless exorcise that wouldn't help with the formation of Voltron. Shiro could already lead and she was willing to follow his commands, despite not being a paladin or under his command.

 _'She was hiding that figure?'_ Devine was slightly confused as she heard Shiro's voice in her mind. Processing the words made her blush a deeper pink, the tight purple and white suite had exposed her thick hourglass figure, and since she didn't have her baggy jacket to hide it, she just wrapped her arms around her middle nervously.

' _Please don't look at me.'_ she pleaded, slightly uncomfortable with the leader taking in her form, confusing the Black paladin who hard her plea in his mind rather then the communicator in his ear. "Miss Devine, are you alright?" He asked, a bit concerned about hearing her voice in his head again, watching as she shifted uneasily down below. "Yeah. Where to next?" she asked, mentally cringing at a possible flaw Shiro could have seen in her to prompt the question in the first place.

"Take five steps right, then four left." He instructed, unsure of her response as he watched her calmly walk threw the maze, no hesitation in her steps, trusting his directions in a way that unnerved the black paladin. "Now just two steps to your right and then-" Shiro was saying into her ear but in her mind she heard slightly different directions. **_'Bend over for me~.'_** She heard Shiro's voice purr in her mind. Her mind producing a lust inducing scene:

 _She was bent over obediently, Shiro behind her holding a ridding crop in his left hand, tapping it ageist's the palm of the prosthetic once before a sinfully gorgeous smile blooming across his face before he raised the crop... quickly bringing it down quickly on-_

"Sorry! W-what was that?" Devine nearly shrieked her question, snapping out of her daze. Blushing a deep red under the purple and white helmet, trying to will away the sudden heat of desire that pleased her inner animal. Shiro on the other hand was struck speechless by the same image that came to mind, blushing a deep red as his mouth hung open in shock and confusion.

"Shiro? Are you alright?" Keith asked as he noticed his mentor go rigid for some reason, Coran carefully observing the older Paladin carefully as he seemed to recover from his sudden shock. "Yeah! Um? Miss Devine, take two steps to your right and then another... right?" He said unsurely as something in his mind brought bring up a memory.

 _Shiro was panting heavy as his naked and scared body was flushed pink, his head thrown back as he cried out in pleasure after he-_

 _'NO! This isn't 50 Shades of Gray! Now Focus!'_

Shrio was startled as he heard Devine's voice yell loudly inside his head, vanquishing the odd image just in time to see her follow his directions. Leading her into a wall that sparked on contact, like the first time Lance run into it. "Did I... just hit a wall?" she asked, confused as the woman proceeded to pat the invisible wall in several places, getting _'shocked'_ every time but going unaffected even as the sparks ran threw the suit and into her body harmlessly."I didn't think Lance would be that big of a baby. I can barely feel a thing."

"Hey! It really hurt!" Lance cried out in his defense, surprised the woman was handling the electrified walls as if it was nothing. "I'm with Lance, those things didn't tickle me either." Hunk added, pouting in confusion. "What's the voltage going through the walls now Coran?" Pidge asked, curious as the Altean was slightly impressed as he checked the voltage. "Same as any of you, but that's no surprise. Alteans are a very resilient race; you can't hurt us that easily!" Coran boasted proudly as Shiro refocused on the maze.

"Sorry, I meant to say left, and then you should be out of the maze." Shiro corrected, Devine following his directions obediently and escaping the maze. "Excellent work you two. Next time Number one, try not to get distracted by her Altean beauty." Coran smirked at Shiro, giving the paladin a knowing wink. "I say it's a nice distraction. Who knew she was hiding that under that emo jacket! It completely hid that gorgeous time piece." Lance piped in as Devine became uneasy from the well meant praise.

"I-i need to take this suite off." She told them hurriedly before nearly running out of the training room as the paladin's watched her leave in confusion.

"Does she not like complements or something?" Hunk asked, having noticed her discomfort.

"She's just being shy and innocent little maiden. Besides the princess, she is a beautiful Altean female surrounded by strong, handsome, young men." Coran explained, flexing his muscles with pride. "Not to mention it's unheard of for any Altean to not be engaged or even married at her age." He told them sagely, as they looked at the Altean in confusion."Then what about you?" Keith asked, damping Coran's mood as he huffed. "I am married to my work. The castle does not take care of itself completely you know." he explained, not showing how the innocent comment had burned his pride.

"I'll go check on her. Make sure she's alright." Shiro offered, walking out of the observation deck, Lance about to eagerly follow him before Coran stopped him, a smirk hidden under his orange mustache.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"WHAT THE HELL!" Devine yelled as she nearly ripped off the helmet from her head, not caring about her messed up hair since she was alone in the changing room. Letting the helmet drop to the floor carelessly in her desperate attempt to get the suite off her burring skin that was alight with white and pink sparks with puffs of red mist coming out of her mouth. Getting the suit off down around her waist, her body was exposed to the cool air, only a black and purple sports bra like garment covering her chest, her heated skin flushed at the sudden temperature change. "Why did I think of those things? We were just training and-Augh! I probably need an other good fucking." she growled in frustration, her hormones roaring loudly, demanding to be followed and satisfied by one of the most alluring prospects in the castle.

"W-what!?" Came Shiro's voice, sounding confused and shocked from the door way. Devine froze in shock as her neck audibly snapped as she looked behind her. A blushing, wide eyed Shiro who had just walked into the room, the blush starting to deepen as they realized she was half naked. "DON'T LOOK!" Devine yelled fearfully as she tried to cover herself with her arms and legs, curling into a ball in the air as Shrio quickly turned around to make himself stop staring at her scared upper body. Seeing what almost looked like redish-pink scales covering her upper back under her top, but he had also noticed the strange white stripe like scars on her sides and hips.

"S-sorry! I was just making sure you where alright. You ran out of pretty quickly and..." Shiro trailed off, unsure how to ask about what he thought heard her say. "I'm fine, the imprint on this suite was just getting to me." she told him, it was slightly true after all, seeing small glimmers of what could be a space version of Beauty and the Beast, minus the Stockholm syndrome of course.

"Was it really that strong?" he asked, a little curious about her strange powers and it's effects. "I was wearing the whole suite, so... it was a little over whelming." She admitted as Shiro chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you don't find me that attractive." He mused, not seeing her eyes widen in disbelief at his words. "N-no. I find you very attractive." she admitted to quietly for the paladin to hear her. ' _I just can't do anything about it.'_ She thought with a tired sigh.

"Why not?" he asked, surprising the woman who thought he hadn't heard her. "I'm... really not supposed to be here, but I wanted to be one of the first to see Voltron from in 10,000 years. Getting to attached to any of you is...was not a good idea. I'll eventually leave to work towards my own goals." She admitted, biting her lip as she thought about his time in the Galra arena, how she had gotten so close to him in secret. before his destined escape to Earth. Yet, that time was locked away deep in his subconscious, where it would possibly never come out.

' _I messed up.'_ Devine thought sadly, as Shiro carefully took in the information she had admitted, thinking. Trying to remember what happened before his return, several heavily blurred images entered his mind but he shook his head to clear them away. "That doesn't matter. You're here now and we haven't been able to form Vol... tron..." Shiro trailed off as he turned to look at her back, getting a better look at her back, the _'scales'_ changing color from the redish-pink to yellow, to green, to blue, and then purple, looking like it a rainbow was embedded into her back as an idea struck him.

"I think I have an idea. You've piloted Ruby before right?" he asked, a spark of interest, Devine's golden eyes blinked as she shyly looked at him threw some stray strands of her white hair, giving him a hesitant nod as he stared at her for a tick to long.

 _'That's kinda cute.'_ Shiro mussed with a soft smile before Devine eyes widen in shock, her face glowing bright red as she had not seen the Paladin's lips move to speak. Shiro's voice was unmistakable to her sharp ears, her mind summoning plausible explanations before realizing that _Josh Keaton_ couldn't possibly be in space with them, but the Black lion was.

 _"OBSIDIAN!"_ Devine yelled suddenly in realization as smokey gray sparks arched around her body, startling and confusing the black paladin who couldn't hear the black lion's teasing remarks and amused cackles.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

The Lions where lined up outside the castle once again, Peridot, Obsidian, Sapphire, Ruby and Topaz all facing the desolate landscape they had created during their training.

"Was this place like this before we came here?" Hunk asked nervously from behind Devine, who had changed into her normal clothes, including her black jacket. Sitting in his seat onboard the yellow lion she had named Topaz, doing something on the screens he couldn't understand because of the unfamiliar, alien characters on display. "No. You guys plowed through a lot of trees, trampled grass, and scared off quite a few of the locals during training." She told him, smiling at the image of the far off trees. A yellow grid was overlaid onto the compacted ground, Topaz helping her find where the dirt needed to be loosened to allow anything to grow there again.

"So... how is letting Devine pilot our lions gonna help us from Voltron? Not that I'm complaining or anything." Lance admitted, excited to eventually be alone with a beautiful woman in his lion for a bit. "She's piloted Ruby before, and she can talk to our lions. Maybe it's her connection that will help us." Shiro pointed out; still confused by the earlier argument she had with his lion alone in the hanger. If he hadn't known better, he would think she was crazy, scolding Obsidian for something Devine assured him wasn't going to happen again... hopefully.

"It's worth a shot, and while I'm at it, we can give back to Arus for its great service." Devine suggested as she firmly grabbed the controls for Topaz, who sounded like Hunk when she gave the lion mecha a playful boop on the nose.

 **' _This is so exciting! Can we show my paladin my cannon? Oh! And my claws?'_** Topaz asked excitedly. Devine chuckled at the yellow lion's eagerness to bond more with his/her paladin, who was looking confused by the woman's amusement of the lion noises he was hearing. "Sure, Topaz. I'm up for showing them a little teaser trailer for all of your abilities. Will that alright with everyone?" she asked, getting confused looks form the paladins as they appeared on Topaz's screen.

 _"YES!"_ Pidge yelled, eagerly bouncing inside Peridot, the other Lions purred in agreement, happy and excited at being able to show off to their new paladins.

"How about you, Hunk?" She asked as Hunk looked unsure of what to really say. "Um? yeah, go for it." He frowned before they took off, Hunk grabbing onto the pilot chair fearfully as the back of his left hand made contact with the woman's left shoulder, turning the lion noises into words.

 **' _Don't be scared. You will always be my precious paladin~.'_**

"Huh?" Hunk asked, confused as he looked at the woman who didn't look like she said anything as she concentrated on piloting the Yellow lion as if it was second nature to her, and it seemed like lion mecha was...purring? Devine started Topaz into a steady run across the landscape, her paws slamming and scraping across the surface to break up the dirt before the claws came out, plowing through the compacted dirt to stop the momentum Topaz had built up running, doing it several more times before its tail whipped the ground, letting out a startling thunder crack as it hit the hard layer of rocks just below the dirt.

"What was that!" Hunk asked, startled as he looked around for the cause on the monitors, seeing only what looked like birds and other animals fleeing the forest in fear, placing a hand on Devine's shoulder before he heard her voice inside his head.

 ** _'Sorry, that was me.'_**

The large paladin looked at the woman who noticed his confusion.

"That was Topaz speaking to you, I just act as a sort of translator for the lions. We needed to scare the wildlife a bit before we pull out a few trees, so Ruby doesn't cause any unnecessary damage." She explained to him as she had Topaz up root a few trees from the dense forest, almost carelessly chucking them across the barren landscape closer to the castle.

"Miss Devine? What are you doing?" Hunk asked as he watched the large lion carefully walk threw the dense forest, but then carelessly up root a random tree before tossing it. "Pruning the forest and creating a natural fire barrier so Ruby can safely lite it up as much as she wants." She informed him as Topaz uprooted one large tree and tossed it far away, just a few feet from the other lions.

"And... done. Want to see her weapon now?" Devine asked in amusement, Hunk hearing the lion speak up eagerly.

 ** _'Yes! Yes! Stick it in! Please my paladin, stick it in~!'_**

The large paladin was confused as Devine suppressed a chuckle at the unintended innuendo before making her request clear. "Your Bayard, stick it in that slot and twist it so we can show you just how _big_ her cannon really is." She mused, as Topaz reviled her bayard slot, waiting to be filled. Hunk was still confused but did as she told him and twisted it as the cockpit lit up with golden colored lights.

Near the castle, other Paladins watched with wide eyes as a large cannon, nearly half the size of the Yellow lion, appeared on its back taking aim at an unseen target. "Where was _that_ when we needed it!" Lance yelled in outrage as the massive cannon charged up a shot. Watching as the lion's claws braced itself, extra claws anchoring it securely to the ground before it fired a massive golden beam of energy that streaked up uselessly into the air, only... the Paladins were shown a rather massive asteroid that had come very close to the alien planet, before the golden beam ripped threw it like it had been wet paper.

"Woah~." Hunk expressed his surprise, eyes sparking with interest at the power of the cannon before removing his Bayard, looking at in wonder. "Can I do that?" he asked the woman in the pilot seat. Devine shaking her head as she pulled her hands away from the controls, before tucking them into her jacket pocket. "Not for a while I'm afraid, and my time's up." The strange woman got up from the chair oddly quick before a communication to the red and blue lions were opened. "Keith, its Ruby's turn. Lance be ready with Sapphire, your gonna be needed to keep everything from burring." She told them with a nervous smile. The red paladin could feel his Lion purring with excitement, as Hunk piloted the yellow lion back.

 **~Voltron~**

Keith watched with mild interest as Devine made a few calculations on the console, still confused about the way she had greeted the red lion, pressing her forehead to it's nose before Ruby would open her mouth to let her inside. "Now for an intentional burn." She mused grabbing the lion's controls carefully making her run forward, the red lion's tail turning into a flame thrower burring at the uprooted trees and the thick foliage of the forest.

"Hey! There could be someone still in there." Keith argued as he grabbed her shoulder and was shocked at what he suddenly heard.

 **' _BURN FOREST! BURN! HAHAHA!'_**

Quickly Keith retracted his hand as he looked at Devine with slight fear, having heard her voice... enjoying the act of burning the healthy and innocent forest. "I'm guessing you understood our little Pyro kitty." she asked, glancing at a confused Keith in amusement before going back to task of setting the forest on fire, within the limits she had set with the yellow lion before hand.

"She... sounded like you." He told her as Ruby pranced around the burring fire happily, Devine having a bit more difficulty controlling the guardian of fire. "Only because the lions use me as a sort of medium, you hear her purring?" she asked and the young man nodded. The sound was almost shaking the entire cockpit, the vibrations going up his legs an warming his entire body noticeably, it only confused Keith more when she held out her hand to him, the lion standing among the flames around them.

"Then hear what she has to say?" she offered as Keith looked at her hand hesitantly before taking it, the purrs almost instantly turned into words.

 _'Fire burn and smolder, while this kitty gets no older. Come and play we'll shout hurray! All threw out your days~!'_ Devine's voice sang happily before Keith pulled his hand away, the voice sounding like purring again. "Oh-kay? That was weird." Keith voiced as Devine chuckled at the little song the lion had sang in her happiness. "She's really happy. Care to try out your Bayard now?" she asked as the slot opened like it did for Hunk, but Keith hesitated as he watched the flames lick at the lion's legs harmlessly with a frown. "Isn't this a bit to much already?" Keith asked, amazed but also worried about the huge fire she had started.

"Hmm, possibly. We can stop here if you're-" Devine was saying before the red lion started to move on her own, taking to the air. "What? Ruby, no!" the woman yelled as she grabbed the controls, trying to restrain the lion's movements to the ground. "I thought you could pilot the Lions!" Keith yelled as he tried to brace himself as Devine fought the lion for control, only to be thrust into the air spinning like a top and dash around randomly in the air. Making her two passengers tumble inside the cockpit "Only as long as they let me have control. I'm just not so great in the **_AIR_**!" she coughed as Keith fell into her lap, elbowing her in the stomach as he reached for the controls. Only to make the red lion face plant in front of the others lions, before flipping onto her back as the other's looked on in shock and slight amusement as the red mecha cat had it's paws bating at air uselessly.

"Wow... she's a worse pilot than Lance." Pidge commented, watching the red lion wiggle a little before getting back on it's feet. "Hey!" Lance took offence to it, now a little worried about Sapphire and himself as the woman came out of the red lion's mouth.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Are you okay Lance? Isn't this uncomfortable for you?" Devine asked out of concern, after giving the blue lion a small kiss on the nose to be let in, Lance had her sitting between his widely spread legs to give her wide hips room between them. Her back to his chest with arms wrapped around her waist tightly as he rested his chin over her right shoulder. The position would have been provocative and unconfutable for both of them, if she had seen the Cuban as more desirable, or more then just a young boy.

"Nope, perfectly fine. We don't want you to hurt your pretty little head again right?" Lance mussed in her ear, getting no reaction besides an eye roll as she grabbed the Lion's controls.

 _'You just don't want to go tumbling around my cockpit when she loses control of me.'_

Devine's voice pointed out, Lance narrowed his eyes in confusion as she did something on the monitor he couldn't understand, but her lips didn't move. "Did you just say something?" he asked her and Devine shook her head, not looking away from the screen that changed into the image of the sheer cliffs just before the castle. "No, that would be Sapphire using my voice." She informed him as Sapphire spoke up again.

 **' _Don't worry_** _your_ **_pretty little head my paladin. We are not gonna be flying~.'_ **Sapphire purred happily as Devine stirred the blue lion to take a running start towards the castle's edge. "Hope you brought some swim trunks, Lance." Devine joked as she made Sapphire jump off the cliff the castle was embedded into, going into a daring dive into the far away water below as a high pitched scream was transmitted form the blue lion before it disappeared into the water.

"Devine are you alright!? We heard a scream coming form the blue lion." Shiro was first to ask, appearing on the blue lion's screen looking terrified and pale, only to be confused by what he saw. Devine cringing in mild pain as she cradled her right ear, Lance had wrapped both his arms and legs around her middle, his normally tan skin was a few shades whiter. "N-nope, can't... breathe... Lance." She wheezed out as the blue paladin removed his appendages from her slowly as Sapphire lazy floated threw the water, all types of sea creatures swimming around the massive blue lion that scattered once her golden eyes lit up to illuminate the dark deep water.

"S-sorry, didn't want to be scared after that huge fall. Haha!" Lance tried to play cool but Devine could feel him shaking with fear with out her empathy gift. "Relax, Sapphire is one cool cat." She joked lightly as Sapphire obeyed her controls, swam around the water, scaring some of the ocean life as Sapphire froze it with the ice beam in her tail. Lance quietly admiring the alien fish that dared to get close to the lion, unafraid and even swimming with the mecha cat for a bit. "Okay I think that's enough ice for now, let's get to the sonic cannon~." Devine smiled as Sapphire's bayard slot opening up as she purred.

 **' _Yes! Now it's time for me to save the day!'_ **Sapphire cheered happily as Lance let out a relived laugh.

"I was thinking the same thing Safiy~. Let's do this!" Lance agreed, plugging his bayard in the slot and twisting. A cannon that resembled a large tuning fork appeared on the back of the lion. "Cover your ears, because it's about to get loud." Devine warned as the cannon fired, shooting the sonic cannon as the water and chucks of ice where blasted upward into the sky over the castle, drops of water and ice, extinguishing most of the fire. As the some of the ice broke up and melted into a fine mist that refracted the light from the sun, creating a massive rainbow around the lions and the castle, stunning the paladins as they took in the red, yellow, green, blue, and purple rays of light coming together to form a beautiful rainbow.

"Whoa~. You are literally the coolest kitty in the universe!" Lance praised, getting a happy giggle from both lion and the female in front of him.

 **' _Thank you, My paladin.'_ **Sapphire responded happily as her paladin smirked. "Please, call me Lance. We are so gonna be best buds Safie." He asked as Sapphire became ecstatic as she roared. **_'Of course, my Lance~.'_ **She purred making Lance blush, holding Devine a little closer, unintentionally comforting the woman who's hands where shaking as she made the lion shoot out of the water, her grip tight on the controls until the lion was on solid ground.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"What kind of powers does Peridot have? What about weapons? Defensive measures? Do you have to always touch the Lion's noses? Is it some sort of access code? Are you the only one who can use it?" Pidge asked eagerly, as Devine barely entered Peridot's cockpit, having drawn a five pointed star inside a circle on the lion's nose to be granted access. The Green Paladin let Devine take the pilot's seat , since being smaller and shorter then the woman would make lap sitting a little uncomfortable.

The older woman smiled at the youngest paladin softly, trying to decipher all her questions and appropriate responses.

"She has the powers of knowledge and nature. Her weapons are mostly plant based, but it may change. Peri is probably the least armored, but arguably the third, fastest of all the lions. No, I don't think so. It's more of a form of greeting then an access code. Your free to try it with the other lions, but I don't think it will work the same way." Devine answered the questions as she sat in the pilot seat, several screens popping up at once as her golden eyes quickly took in the information before her fingers started imputing new information into the lion.

"You can sit in my lap to see for your-self?" She subjected before Pidge readily sat in her lap, a big grin as Peridot's purrs turned to words in the paladin's mind.

 **' _You planted seeds in the ground before hand. Very cleaver, Little Cub._ '** Pidge blinked in confusion as they heard Devine's voice in their head, but also about the comment, presumably Peridot, had made.

"Seeds? Little cub?" they questioned as Devine showed Pidge the small mounds of dirt closer to the castle that didn't have ashes of burnt trees or tilled soil. "Just a bit before all of you woke up. I planted some seeds near the castle to give the land some life back, and with Peri's help it would be that much quicker." She explained as she gave off green sparks as she smiled. Pidge looked at her, confused by the green sparks the woman admitted as the Bayard slot opened eagerly.

"For more information, please insert one green bayard." Devine joked as Pidge eagerly did as she asked, inserting the green bayard and twisting... only to get no response from the lion. "Isn't... something supposed to happen?" Pidge asked, disheartened before twisting the bayard back and pulling it out to take a look for anything that could be wrong with it.

"Peridot?" Devine questioned the lion, as the lion used Pidge's voice in her mind.

 ** _'My paladin does not understand the universe like we do, little cub. If you wish to show them... then you must do it yourself.'_** Peridot explained, making the woman hesitate before Pidge looked back at her, holding out the green bayard. There was a slight damper on their eagerness to see the lion's power, despite the large grin on their face.

"Will you show it to me, _Mommy_?" The request broke the woman's already weak resolve as she took the bayard with a soft smile, before planting a small kiss on the young paladin's forehead, Pidge blinking in surprise as pink sparks arched into a small heart shape upon contact.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

The other paladins watched in amazement from their lions as Peridot fired a small cannon the size of her head, admitting a green light that hit what remained after the fire sink into the soil and reach for the sun as they grew quickly into trees, bushes, flowers and grass that colored the barren landscape they had created. While inside the castle the two Alteans there shocked into disbelief at what they saw grow before the Castel of Lions.

"Those trees... those flowers... those seeds are..." Allura watched with wide eyes that brimmed with tears. "Altean foliage! Where!? How!?" Coran shouted in shock as they both recognized the familiar flora of their lost home, the growth extending outwards as the Altean flora mingled with the native Arusian flora peacefully. The princess's eyes were on the purple flowers that boomed rapidly in front of the castle, extending into the revitalized forest.

"Juniberry flowers...I thought I would never see them again." she whispered to her self as a single tear escaped her eye as Coran connected to the green lion. "Miss Devine!" Coran called out, the two grinning in excitement on screen. "Yes, Coran?" Devine questioned, trying not to draw attention to her hand pulling out the green bayard, she had a suspicion about what he wanted to ask.

"Where did you get those seeds?! Altea was destroyed, along with all it's beautiful flora and fona!" he asked franticly, but Pidge answered him egerly. "Peridot has a data base filled with _BLLIONS_ of different plant life forms, so she can shot and grow just about any kind of them! Did you guys know that!?" the excited paladin asked, as the two Alteans looked at each other in shock, confusion, and worry. Not having been aware of several abilities the lions had, but Devine strangely had known of.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Exiting Peridot and making sure the Altean flora would be okay in it's new environment, Devine approached Obsidian without having to do a special greeting. The lion lowered and allowed her inside without further prompting. The woman gulped nervously before entering the lion's mouth, the purring only getting louder as she entered the cockpit, just as Shiro moved to get out of the chair.

"Stay. I'm going to have to sit on your lap since... Obisidian is the guardian of the sky, and I'm not a very good pilot in the air." Devine blushed as she stopped Shiro from getting out of the chair to let her pilot. "Alright, but are you gonna be comfortable sitting in my lap then?" he asked slightly joking, sitting back down in the pilot's chair before being surprised that she actually sat in his lap, making him lightly blush. She wasn't as heavy without her suit, dressed in more casual clothes, Devine wasn't very heavy but she wasn't light either, she weighted... _comfortably_ in his lap.

' _No._ ' Shiro was confused he heard her voice in his mind, as he watched her grabbed the controls of the black lion. The warmth of her body seeping threw his paladin armor, pink sparks coming off her skin he could feel her back stiffen ageists his chest as the black Lion moved forward slowly, the other paladins watching with interest as the lion mecha seemed to move like an actual lion stalking it's prey.

"How well do you think Obsidian is gonna fly with Miss Devine at the controls?" Pidge asked, a little worried and amused for the black paladin. "I'm sure Shiro would help her out. I don't think we'll see the black lion face plant any time soon." Keith piped in, feeling Ruby share his feelings with no words only a low, displeased growl. "Dude they all have names, use them." Lance smirked as Sapphire seemed to agree with him as she purred happily. "I'm just curious why Obsidian has those wing things on her back. Do Altean lion's have wings?" Hunk voiced as his lion was softly purring, the yellow Paladin wishing he could understand Topaz again. "What do you think his weapon would be?" he asked before everyone realized something important.

"Shiro doesn't have a Bayard." Keith informed with a confused frown, the black lion let out a massive roar before crouching and taking to the air in a giant leap "Anyone got a camera? I wanna film this." Lance mused as he watched the lion fly even higher into the sky before becoming confused. "You think Shiro will realize she can't show him the lion's weapon?" Pidge asked, curious as the other's remained quite while watching the black lion that hovered high in the sky.

Inside Obsidian's cockpit, Shiro's large hands where gently placed over Devine's on the controls. "T-thanks." Devine squeaked out, admiring how warm Shiro was even threw her clothes and his armor, he was gently guiding her hands on the controls as they did basic flying formations, spreading the pollen to encourage new foliage to grow. "No problem. To bad I don't have my Bayard." He chuckled softly before the image of a black and white Bayard entered his mind. _'What was that?'_ Shiro questioned before he heard Devine chuckle and purr into the shell of his ear.

 **' _Your bayard, my paladin~.'_** Shiro gulped as her voice sounded seductive before he realized it was the black lion speaking to him, and not the blushing woman in his lap. "It's still out there Shiro, when we find it. We'll grab it. In the mean time, I think Obie and I know a little go around for now." Devine told him as the Bayard slot opened, waiting for input. "H-how?" Shiro asked as she slipped her right hand from under his Glara arm, and placing her hand over it. Both their hands glowing two different shades of purple that seemed to swirl together as they moved around their hands. The light moving into Shiro's palm, turing white to form something that was shaped like a bayard. Devine's fingers rested on top of the strangely warm prosthetic, as if it was still flesh, gently pressing on the knuckles to make his fingers grasp what looked to be a colorless, white bayard.

"Here goes nothing." Devine voiced nervously as she semi-controlled the robotic arm, jammed the while bayard into the slot, twisting it as the black lion's cockpit lit up with bright purple lights, activating it's hidden power as their hearts beat loudly in their chest as they raced to match the other's rhythm.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"WHOA! You guys seeing this!?" Lance asked as the other paladins stared up at the black lion as the red fins on its back opened up, several lavender colored diamonds spreading out to form bird like wings, the air around it blowing strongly as the clouds disbursed letting the sun shine on the flora below. Then the show began as the black lion arched backwards into an elegant arch, falling to the ground doing a few flips where her tail touched her nose, before smoothly stopping a few miles from the ground and flying over the flowers and trees, snow white pollen was stirred up in the down draft that followed the lavender wings. Making the lion look more like a shooting star as it twirled and twisted in the air like it was dancing.

"So... does this mean Voltron has wings too?" Keith asked as they all watched the lion do aerial tricks with inhuman elegance, the red paladin briefly doubted Shiro was making the lion do such... girly movements. The other's where speechless as they watched Obsidian slowly approach them, paws patting the ground, as dainty as a giant mecha lion could, the wings slowly dissipating as she got closer, a firm breeze blowing over the other lions as the wings deactivated and the black lion took an elegant bow after her performance.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Devine sighed as she had felt the Obsidian slowly stop draining her quintessence, something the lion needed to activate the wings without the proper bayard. Stretching out her stiff back, letting her head lay fall back onto Shiro's chest, feeling a little drowsy form the drain, and from what her hazed mind could tell, the black paladin felt the same way as he was slumped forward resting his chin on her shoulder as he panted for air.

"That was... wow..." Shiro voiced, not sure how to describe the odd feeling, he could almost feel the wings sprout form his own back. Devine's quintessence flowing threw his arm and into his body to... _mix_ with his own, gently guiding it into his prosthetic into a bayard that felt so real before channeling it into Obsidian threw the placebo bayard.

' _Almost as good as sex~.'_ He heard her voice purr in his mind, his face going bright red as he processed the words. _'What!? Obsidian?'_ he questioned mentally as there was an amused chuckle. **_'Did you enjoy that, my paladin?'_** her voice purred in his mind, confused as he glanced at the woman, not seeing her lips move to speak as her eyes slowly shut as almost falling asleep.

"Do the Lions have to use your voice?" Shiro asked unsurely, making Devine jolt out of her half asleep haze. "I-I don't think so. I hear each of your voices from your lions." she explained tiredly, shutting her eyes again as Obsidian explained. ' ** _It's a matter of preference. Don't you like hearing her voice_** _purring_ ** _in your ear, my Paladin?'_** Obsidian asked, amused as Shiro shivered from the pleasant but strange feeling that surged threw his entire body.

"Obie, stop it." Devine reprimand, able to hear and understand the lion's words to her paladin, but also feeling how _strange_ Shiro was becoming form her words.

 ** _'Why~? I'm not the one being the_** _Bad Kitty_ ** _here~.'_** Obsidian mused, using Shiro's voice in her mind. The paladin feeling the warm tingles threw his armor as he blushed when she shifted in his lap, her soft hair brushing across his chin as she stopped leaning on his chest. A strange sweet smell making the human paladin's mouth dry and his body to become rigged with realization downing upon him.

' _Crap!'_ Shiro though as he felt himself react, like any male would with an attractive female just sitting his lap, it wasn't helped by the fact that he had been unable to _take care_ of himself in the Galra prisons.

 ** _'See~ you're seducing my paladin all on your own.'_** Obsidian teased as both of them stiffened with bright red blushes invading their complexions.

" ** _OBSIDIAN!"_** they both yelled at the lion who only chuckled at them in amusement. **_'Why not just-'_** Obsidian was saying before Devine quickly stood up from Shiro's lap, leaving him to only able to hear lion noises and Devine unable to look at the Voltron leader after what Obsidian had almost said to him. ' ** _It wouldn't hurt to have a little_** _fun_ ** _with my paladin~.'_** The lion reasoned with Devine, only she said nothing as she made her way out of the cockpit, much to Shiro's confusion and disappointment.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine was quiet as Coran had them all gathered in the training room again, white and blue headsets on the paladins to project their surface thoughts but opened their minds up for the other's to look deeper. Thankfully Coran thought it was more important that all five of them bonded without her in this instance. "Now the most important part of paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron. Let everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron. So, relax and open your mind. No walls, no lies, no secrets between paladins." Coran instructed as he linked their minds threw the head sets.

As Devine looked on tiredly from where sat slightly away from their little pentagon circle, a worried frown formed on her lips as she saw Keith thinking of his home back on Earth, abandoned in the desert without him or anyone else to care for it anymore. Lance with his large extended family: his mother, father, aunt, uncles, Grandmother, several cousins and his siblings. Hunk was thinking of food, and the muffins she had made making her crack a small smile. Pidge was thinking of possibly the last happy moment she had with her brother Matt before he left for Kerberos. It confused the woman how anyone could see the two as a couple when the two siblings looked so much alike. Shiro however was different, startling her as she saw her own back, half undressed from the purple paladin suit, her scared and crystal decorated back exposed for the other's to see briefly before it quickly changed to the Kerberos ship before it's launch.

She could feel the Altean's eyes on her, questioning and worried as she looked away uncomfortably, hoping no one would ask about her back before Coran's focus shifted back to the paladins. "Relax and open your minds. No walls, No, lies, no secrets between paladins. Come on, everyone, clear everything." Coran guided them. "Now, focus on forming your lion. Bring your lions together and form Voltron." The others pictured their lions slowly coming together to from the giant robot, but Pidge's mind flickered from Peridot to the picture and back.

"Good! Keep focusing! Only one more to go!" Coran encourage as Devine could felt the young paladin's unease with opening their mind to others as she watched the Peridot's image flicker in and out of concentration. "Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!" Keith snapped, glaring at Pidge as he concentrated on Ruby. "I wasn't! Hunk was rooting around in my head!" the green paladin accused angrily as they tried to bring back the green lion while trying to protect their own mind.

"I thought we were being open." Hunk defended.

"You can look in my head hole if you want to." He offered, unhelpfully.

"Everyone has to be able to look into everyone's head holes!" Coran yelled, cutting off the argument before Pidge could respond. "Clear your minds!" the Altean instructed as everyone tried again, the holograms were all coming together to form Voltron. "Good! Almost there, now. Form Voltron. Yes!" Coran yelled in excitement a little too early as the green lion disappeared again, replaced by the image of the two siblings.

"Pidge!" Lance yelled accusingly as the green paladin stood up before throwing the head set on the floor in anger. "I'm done with this! I don't like everyone grubbing around inside my head!" Pidge shouted in frustration. Devine was tempted to pull out the letter she had stored in her pocket, the green paladin's _real_ name on it, but she knew it could derail a lot of future plans and events.

It was best to keep it a secret, presenting it as a very last resort... or not at all.

"Oh, come on, guys. We were just starting to get the hang of this." Shiro voiced, disappointed in the others for looking in Pidge's head without proper permission, then again, the youngest paladin shouldn't be hiding anything from them as they needed to form Voltron again. "I'm just... I'm just tired, okay? And Miss Devine, already fell asleep." Pidge sighed tiredly, looking over at the woman who had fallen over into a dead sleep, laying on the floor, even drooling a little as everyone looked at her in confused shock.

Shiro looked at her worriedly as he took off his head set. "Okay. Let's take a break for now. Showing us our Lion's abilities must have taken a lot out of her." the Voltron leader reasoned worriedly before Coran easily picked the woman up into his arms, gently cradling her as she slept. "Yes, activating the individual powers of the lions would drain the paladins of old as well. I'm impressed she activated Peridot's bayard at all, but it's much more draining for a novice pilot or non paladin." the mustached Altean explained as he looked down at the sleeping female with a strange look that made the black paladin uneasy as he stood up from the floor and approached Coran.

"I'll take Miss Devine to her room to get some sleep and you can-" Shiro was saying, moving to take the sleeping woman from the Altean who only held on to her tighter and narrowed his eyes at the Japanese young man who frowned in what looked like annoyance. "Not to worry Number One. I'll make sure this little one gets to bed, you all just relax and I'll bring over some refreshments in a dobadash." Coran insisted as he swiftly exited the training room as the younger paladins watched the odd display. Shiro watching the two Alteans disappear form his site as a strange feeling over came him.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Coran let out a relived sigh as the door to the young woman's assigned room closed behind him, still a sleep in his arms, a caring smile was growing under his mustache as he walked over to the large bed, fit for a princess, laying her down on the soft mattress. Giving a displeased moan as she turned to her side in discomfort, her back to the male Altean who let out a small chuckle before moving to remove her shoes. Having a bit more trouble with her jacket, but he eventually got it off of her as she rolled onto her front, her backless purple top exposing the pattern Shiro had accidently seen before.

"Could it be?" the Altean asked, a hand cautiously reaching out to touch the white crystals that gave an unnatural shimmer in the dark room, creating a very familiar pattern centered around a rather large white crystal that was just below the base of her neck. "No. She died before this war even began, and... she acts to different for the princess." the altean advisor reasoned quietly to himself before he caught site of the juniberry flower on her night stand, still just a bud that wasn't ready to bloom. Coran frowned as he looked down at the young woman, gently running a gloved hand over her head as she seemed to smile at the affection, sparking into a strange shape the Altean didn't know the meaning of before he pulled away to leave.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Coran passed out some juice box things to the paladins as they sat on the floor of the observation room, the mood in the room feeling less hopeful as the Altean realize Devine had also been trying to keep the paladin's sprits and energy up, sacrificing her own for them in more ways then one. "You have all been working hard. It's time to relax a little before trying again." Coran suggested as he handed out the drinks, Devine not preparing a snack this time seemed to dampen their sprits further.

Luckily the juice didn't taste too weird unlike the goo they would have to try and get used to.

"Why are all of you just laying around?" Everyone looked at Allura as she entered the room, hands on her hips the mice on her shoulders as she glared at the paladins. "You're supposed to be training! Not sitting about drinking juice boxes." Allura yelled at them disappointed as she looked at each of them. "Where is Miss Devine? She could use a bit of training herself." she added, looking a little angary for some reason.

"Princess, Miss Devine has gone down for a little nap and the Paladian's are taking a well deserved break. You know you can't push _them_ too hard." Coran informed her, but it did not please the princess. "What do you mean ' _Can't push them too hard'_!?" she huffed, getting frustrated by the lack of progress the paladins where making. Concluding that Devine had been manipulating and distracting them form actually forming Voltron, intentionally or unintentionally she didn't know for sure.

"Get up you lazy lumps! It's time you faced _The Gladiator_!" Allura commanded as Coran looked worried as the Paladin's gave her looks of annoyance or sounds of their unhappiness with her. Shiro possibly being the only one who didn't display his annoyance outwardly.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"In order to defeat the Gladiator, all five paladins must fight as one." Coran instructed the paladins that where once again in the training room, the princess overseeing their training with Coran. Down below, the paladins had their bayards out, scanning for the Gladiator, but Hunk was the first yo let out a yelp of surprise as the large Altean robot dropped from the opening just above his head. A bo staff in its hands as it shifted into a battle stance as its single blue eye flashed before lunging at the large paladin without warning.

"Whoa!" Hunk activated his bayard quickly, firing in its direction haphazardly but completely missed hitting it. Giving the Gladiator a chance to get close with its staff to sweep Hunk's feet from under him before zapping the yellow paladin in the chest with one end of the staff. Defeating the large paladin with ease before Pidge ran at it, bayard on the attack.

The Gladiator however blocked the attack easily with the staff before easily knocking the small paladin off to land on top of their fellow, _defeated_ , paladin.

Lance took a literal shot at The Gladiator as Pidge was defeated, only to have his shots deflected as the robot came at the long range weapon user, hitting Lance in the side. To his credit Lance kept trying to hit The Gladiator and his shots got deflected before his rifle was knocked out of his hands, leaving him open to attack as the robot hit the blue paladin on his head and stomach, winding Lance for a moment or two before it turned to deal with Keith's ' _surprise'_ attack. Deflecting the red paladin's sword rather easily before turning back to Lance, hitting the recovering paladin in the head once more before flinging his body into Keith's like a rag doll.

Then it turned to Shiro, who's bionic arm glowed dangerously as The Gladiator dashed at him about to strike ageists the black paladin who froze as he stared at the incoming attack, a memory of Zarkon's face flashed threw his mind, making him freeze reflexively in terror. "Shiro!" Keith yelled worriedly as he tried to get Lance's body off of him to save his mentor, only for the staff to be caught by a clawed hand.

Six pairs of eyes went wide as a low _BOOM_ echoed through the room, the robot tried to process the sudden appearance of a new combatant. Devine's ember eyes where half closed with strands of white hair slightly in her face, slender fingers grasped the staff firmly, electricity ran threw the staff to try and shock her into letting go, only to make her white hair frieze and glow slightly.

The Gladiator detected no weapons on the woman who was bear footed and without her trusty jacket, the lavender top hugging her body as her long white hair flowed down her shoulders and back. The Gladiator tried to pulled its weapon away only to be yanked forward and revive a open fist to the chest. The woman's hand sparking with unnatural black energy as her nails sunk into it's armor, making the droid twitch before all it's internal power was drained, falling onto it's back in a useless heap.

 _ **Defeated**_.

* * *

A.N.: Re-written and will soon be posted on A03 with extra content.


	4. Chapter 4, Healing Hope

**_Dark Abyss_**

The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders!

 ** _WARRING!: Mentions of suicide, self-harm, and abuse_**.

* * *

 ** _~Chapter 4, Healing Hope~_**

"I thought that would be more _*yawn*_ interesting." Devine muttered sleepily, pouting a little as she rested the stolen weapon on the floor, letting it lean over her shoulder as it was half a foot taller than her current height. Titling her head to the side tiredly, closing her eyes she could feel the young Paladins staring at her in shock, surprise, and confusion with a dash of envy.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, eyes closed out of drowsiness as the young paladins looked at her. She could sense Shiro behind her, feeling puzzled and confused once he came out of his episode. His sudden burst of terror having reached her as she slept, making her act without thinking, not caring about concealing her secrets or plans upon feeling that dark abyss of dread again.

"What's the matter? Lion got your tongues?" She asked tiredly, as she felt her ear twitch in slight irritation, before they both perked up on top of her head at attention, something rough and warm was unsurely caressing the shell of her ear.

"Are these... real?" Shiro asked, as he stared at the white and gray triangles, that looked like stripped cat ears, on top of Devine's head. Having reached out curiously and ran his flesh and blood thumb over junction where the furry appendage met her skull, unknowingly pressing into a sensitive spot.

" _Yes_ ~." Devine moaned happily, shivering in delight as she purred, rubbing her head into the paladin's touch. Shiro blushed as the other ear twitched in delight, the woman glowing white before opening her eyes in shocked horror, realizing what was happening before grabbing hold of the Paladin's arm tightly.

" ** _DON'T DO THAT!"_** Devine hissed at him angrily, prying Shiro's hand off her ear while blushing bright red. Covering her cat ears with her hands before sliding them down the side of her head, where her ears should have been, making pointed Altean ears appear instead.

"Aww, why is Shiro the only one who gets to feel them?" Hunk pouted as he and the others had been entranced by the furry appendages. "There not for touching Hunk." She told him flatly before she yawned tiredly, the furry ears appearing again on top of her head, hanging low as she closed her eyes in a moment of lethargy.

"They're back!" Pidge yelled excitedly as they approached Devine excitedly.

"Can I feel them, too? Please~?" the young paladin pleaded cutely as they watched the furry things twitch irritation as one golden eye popped open in slight irritation. "No, Pidge. I don't like them being touched." She responded to the teen as she ran her fingers threw her frizzy hair, trying to smooth it down. Her fluffy ears to lay flat across her skull in annoyance, no longer trying to get rid of the feline appendages that had appeared.

"I-i'm going back to bed." She declared with a slight growl, before the Alteans approached the combatants, Allura with a scowl on her face and Coran looking slightly dazed.

"Actually Miss Devine, I would prefer it if you joined us for dinner. Since you felt the need to _defeat_ the Gladiator for the paladins, you should join in on their training." Allura responded with contained anger as she glanced at the twitching fighting machine, hands on her hips as she took a commanding stance to look intimidating, but Devine was not affected.

"It was too easy and outdated anyway. The basic Galra sentries now are a lot tougher than your so-called, _Gladiator_." Devine hissed out, the older woman handing over the bo staff to the princess in favor of combing her hair to tame it. The young paladins looked at her in disbelief as the princess let the staff fall to the ground, a heavy boom filling the quiet room from its impact on the floor.

"That thing kicked our butts and it was about to take out Shiro." Keith pointed out as Devine yawned tiredly, Allura then turned on the paladins.

"That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child! It defeated all of you, yet Miss Devine took it out unarmed in one blow!" Allura nearly yelled at them in disappointment. "You're not even close to working as a team, let alone facing Zarkon!" She finished, crossing her arms over her chest. Dread spread threw the younger paladins as Devine shared Shiro's worry for the teens before sighing tiredly.

"I'm gonna need some coffee."

' _And Alcohol.'_

Devine thought, Shiro looking at her with worry. Still abled to hear a few of the woman's thoughts at certain moments, but most almost seemed to be layered over several other thoughts at once.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Coran are you sure this is still safe to eat?" Devine asked as she drank her coffee, with a little space sweetener, some substance that tasted like heavy cream, and alcohol that Coran so wisely provided. She thought to question the advisor about the _habits_ of the former Altean Queen but getting the makeshift Irish coffee in her system was much more important, the health and wellbeing of the paladins was a very close second at the moment.

"Of course! Altean Space goo never goes bad! Give it a taste." He offered the neon green jello like goo to her a bowl with a smile just as she finished her first cup of coffee. "Thanks, but I'm not drunk enough to try and eat it." She blurted out; whipping the cream off her upper lip with a finger before popping it into her mouth. Making herself another cup of the familiar drink with slight hesitation, making alcoholic cocktails was nearly second nature and became useful one too many times before. She could feel Coran's concern and disappointment, but what the advisor was concerned about confused her.

Coran left the kitchen with the ' _food goo'_ leaving her alone to fix her coffee, leaving out the alcohol and other additives. Golden eyes stared into the dark drink inside the white porcelain like cup for a moment, her furry ears dropped down in a mix of nervousness and anxiety, taking a sip of the concoction, the bitter drink coating her tongue.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Ahoy, young Paladins! I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food for everyone. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement, and twice on the astral conflux!" Coran yelled gleefully as he set out the food on the long table, green goo and odd colored cubes in bowls and on plates being presented for dinner.

The paladins carefully sat down, not to tempted to try the very strange food even Hunk had a problem eating. Devine came out of the kitchen and sat in the nearest chair, which was to Shiro's right at one end of the long table. She sipped her coffee calmly, leaning back into the chair to watch the entertaining show that was about to go down. The young paladin's looking at the ' _food'_ with dread, showing how much they were still mentally children.

"Smells great, Coran. Thanks." Shiro thanked the Altean, trying to be the polite adult of the group as he leaded the others to at least _try_ the food. Devine moved her coffee cup to sit in front of her on the table before Coran then pressed a small button; cuffs appearing around the Paladins' wrists, locking their writs to the one sitting beside them. Save for Pidge's right hand that was pinned to the chair and Shiro's left, that locked to Devine's right wrist, both their eyes widening in surprise as they looked at each other and then down at their cuffed wrists.

"Hold the phone!" Lance shouted in surprise, finding his wrists cuffed to Hunk and Keith suddenly.

"I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day. This also includes you Miss Devine." Coran proclaimed with a sly grin, Devine's furry ear twitched in slight annoyance as Shiro let her pull his left arm, so she could reach her coffee cup, her left cuffed to her chair.

"Coran, I want you to think about what you're doing." Hunk threatened as he scowled at the Altean male who was not intimidated in the least. "This one's a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!" Coran explained excitingly, the reference to the wolf like creatures was lost as the younger paladins glared at one another angrily.

"Did this exercise _really_ bring the original paladin's closer?" Devine asked skeptically, carefully sipping her coffee before setting it down, letting Shiro pull her arm closer without resistance. "Well… in a way yes. Yes, it did." Coran provided flatly, conflicted emotions coming from the orange Altean. While the paladins where trying to figure out how to eat the space goo halfheartedly, a lot of goo being spilled in the process made them look like toddlers learning to feed themselves.

The woman tried not to show her amusement when Shiro sighed tiredly. "Mind if I have a sip of that?" Shiro asked her semi seriously, his left hand reached for her coffee. Devine smirked and pushed it into his reach. "Only if you can handle your coffee black." She mussed letting the black paladin take her mug, feeling some slight embarrassment as he hesitated with taking a sip of the dark liquid. The Paladin visibly relaxed as he ingested the caffeinated drink, letting her have it back a she smirked at him, noticing half the mug was gone. Shiro let her move his left arm so she could drink the rest, only missing the light blush on his cheeks.

"See! This young Paladins, this is a prime example of team work!" Coran pointed out proudly as all eyes turned to their end of the table, Hunk looking at them in shock. "You mean Shiro and Miss Devine having an indirect kiss?" he asked as Coran and Keith looked at Hunk in confusion, Devine hid her amused smirk behind the mug as Shiro blushed at it being pointed out.

"What is... an _indirect kiss_?" Allura asked as she joined them, narrowing her eyes in suspicion at all of them, now dressed in her normal princess dress with her hair flowing free down her back, having walked in right after Shiro gave the mug back to Devine.

"An indirect kiss is when someone's mouth touches something that someone else's mouth touched recently. Like Miss Devine drinking from the same coffee mug Shiro did just now." Pidge pointed out as the Alteans and Keith gasped with eyes going wide in shock. Devine shook her head in amusement and Shiro's blush darkened as he didn't intend for it to happen.

"It's also called _sharing_ , since neither of us can get up to get another mug of coffee." The woman pointed out with some bite to her tone. _'They still make such a big deal about indirect kisses? They really are just children.'_ She thought sadly as Shiro glanced at her before looking over at the younger paladins sadly. Allura taking the seat across from Shiro with a slight pout, willing down a small blush as Coran left to fetch the princess a plate. "Miss Devine, for future reference the head of the table is where the host is supposed to sit." Allura informed the woman seriously as Devine rolled her eyes. "I think we can drop most of the formalities, Allura. This isn't some high society tea party, it's just a casual dinner among _teammates_." The older woman reasoned, letting Shiro finish off the coffee as he caught on to what the woman was trying to do. Devine's furry ears perking up as the stripes turned a soft blue, Allura giving off a flash of anger, narrowing her eyes at the older woman.

"More coffee Miss Devine? Number one?" Coran interrupted, hastily placing dinner plates full of green goo before the two females, coming between them as he set another mug next to Devine's, filling up the two mugs with the dark liquid. "Thank you, Coran." Devine gave the mustached Altean a polite smile as Shiro happily took one of the mugs, Devine letting him grab it as Allura grabbed the other mug in curiosity.

"Coran what is this?" she asked her advisor but the older woman answered shortly after. "It's coffee, a drink that simulates wakefulness in the drinker, but it's-" Devine tried to explain, stripes turning yellow as Allura tried the hot beverage, taking a gulp before spitting it out. Without thinking the older woman summoned a shield in between the black paladin and the hot liquid that spewed from the Altean princess's mouth, gaging at the strange taste. Shiro looking disgusted and relived as he sighed once the shield disappeared, a gush of liquid falling to the table.

"-bitter." Devine informed the princess with a slightly amused smirk she couldn't hide, her stripes nearly blended with the rest of her fury ears as they glowed white, watching Allura trying to retain her poise.

"Hey Coran can I get a mug of that too?" Pidge asked, sighing as Keith pulled away control of their left hand, becoming frustrated with the red paladin.

"No. It's bad for your growth." Devine responded sternly.

"You and Allura are drinking it." The green paladin pointed out as the woman raised her restrained wrists as Coran cleaned up the spilled coffee.

"Well I literally have my hand's tied, so I couldn't stop her, and my back kills me enough as it is." She mentioned, straiting out her back with several small pops as her chest giggled, getting the table's attention as their mouths dropped slightly from the sudden, implied vulgarity, the boys blushing lightly as they observed her plump breasts. "I don't _need_ to grow anymore." Devine hissed in annoyance, slouching as she tried not to bring attention to her chest, pulling her legs up to try and hide them, her stripes turning yellow as they lowered sheepishly. Shiro frowned as he noticed the woman looking away from the strange food nervously, not even attempting to try it.

"Next time we do this. I'm sitting next to Miss Devine!" Lance yelled in frustration as he glared at Keith, who had his hand stuck in Lance's bowl of food goo. "It's your fault!" Keith snapped at the blue paladin in frustration. "This is ridiculous." He grumbled as the red paladin yanked his arms closer, only pulling the blue and green paladins closer to him in the process.

"Ouch!" Lance cried out in pain as Hunk bit into his hand on ' _accident'_ , after Lance's hand hit the yellow paladin's face. "Sorry." Hunk apologized, not seeming very sorry as he glanced at Devine, who let Shiro control his left arm when she wasn't drinking coffee, the food goo before her going untouched.

"Do Earthlings ever stop complaining? Miss Devine, it's rude to not eat the food you are so kindly given." Allura reprimand the woman, eating her own goo, not having a problem at all with the taste that made the older woman cringe.

 _'How can she eat this?'_ Devine thought as she wearily eyed the goo, something in the back of her mind was telling her not to eat it.

"Allura, can't you just give us a break? Everyone's been working really hard today." Shiro sighed, scowling at the princess, not liking the way she was acting.

"Yeah! We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like…like…" Keith piped up, trying to think of a comparison before Lance chimed in helpfully. "Like a bunch of toy prisoners!" He yelled as Keith shot him a quick smirk. "Yes! Thank you, Lance!" Keith praised as Devine wiggled the fingers on her left hand in anticipation, testing the quintessence powered restraint carefully.

' _Here it comes.'_ She thought as Shiro glanced at her in confusion.

"You do not yell at the Princess!" Coran yelled back, furrowing his eyebrows at the two Paladins, before the youngest of the group decided to speak up.

"Oh? The princess of what?" Pidge asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. "We're the only ones out here, she's not our _princess_ , but she's been acting more like a royal pain in the-!" Pidge was interrupted by some goo hitting their face. Allura glared at Pidge as she took a stance with a spoon now void of the goo she had sent at the Paladin's face. Coran looked at Allura, slightly shocked by what she had just done.

"Go loose Pidge!" Keith yelled, grabbing a bowl of goo with his right hand.

' _And we're off.'_ Devine thought with a smirk, slipping her left hand from the deactivated cuff, just as Keith launched the of goo at Allura, only for Coran to block it with the table cloth, before swing a ladle filled with goo at the paladins. Devine having brought up a shield to block the goo.

"Oh! It's on now." Hunk challenged with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. Being unable to use his hands he shoved his face into a large bowl of goo in front of him, inhaling it before lifting his head back up, squeezing his full cheeks to send the goo back at the Alteans who got covered in the goo and spit mixture over their shocked and disgusted faces.

The Paladins quickly took cover behind their chairs as the goo was flung across the room, Devine smiled as she protected herself from stray goo. Her energy going up as they took out their frustrations on the princess, or tried to, Coran was honorably acting as Allura's shield as the princess threw goo at the offending Paladins.

The older woman smirked as she carefully picked up some goo herself, flinging it at the princess once Coran was unable to protect her. Covered in more goo, Allura whipped her head over to Devine, who gave her an impish grin at being discovered. The princess glared at Devine before throwing goo in her direction, only hitting her shield as the older woman avoided being hit the Altean goo.

Over all it was a wonderful site to see and feel, the negative emotions being worked away into glee, happiness and relief once the room was coated in goo. It felt safe to finally bring down her shield as Allura took a seat with a tired sigh.

Devine looked at the Paladins proudly, as they all laughed at the mess they made. Closing her eyes, she slowly drank in the emotions, the paladins then noticed her goo free appearance, with gleeful grins, thinking of the same thing. They quickly picked up some goo before the woman opened her golden eyes wide to a volley of goo.

"AGH!" Devine screamed, cringing as the slightly warm food goo covered her as much as it did everyone else, making them all laugh harder. "You didn't think we would forget about you. Did you, Devine?" Shiro smirked, looking down at the goo covered female who franticly whipped away the goo with her now free left hand. Golden eyes turned to glare at him as her stripes became a light pink as they lowered to the side of her head, twitching in irritation.

"H-honestly I wasn't too keen on taking a shower before I took a proper nap." She admitted, but still gave them all a small smile. "But it's not fair since I didn't hit any of you." She added, glancing at a recovering Allura, still covered in the goo Devine had hit her with. The older woman made a mental note of the younger paladins aim not being as good as her's.

"Do you see what all of you are doing?" Allura asked, smiling excitedly as she regained her breath. "You're finally working together as one!" She pointed out as the Paladins looked at one another in realization.

"Hey, she's right!" Keith agreed, smiling as Lance looked at him with a smile. "I actually don't hate you right now." The blue paladin confessed, no longer feeling negative towards his fellow paladin.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Hunk asked, looking excited.

"Let's go form Voltron!" Shiro suggested confidently.

" **Yeah!** " The younger paladins cheered at the suggestion before Hunk made himself clear. "Actually, I was thinking dessert. But, yeah! Let's do it!" He agreed none the less, lifting his arms in excitement, catching the others off guard as they tumbled to the floor.

Pidge pining Keith down to on top of Lance by laying over their legs, Hunk being pinned by half of Shiro and Devine's combined weight, the black paladin unintentionally pulling the woman down to lay on his chest. Shiro blushed as the pink and white ears slightly tickled his chin as they twitched nervously, making chuckle along with the other paladins who laughed at their sudden fall.

Devine tried to suppress a purr as she felt everyone's delight, only to abandon the idea once she felt Shiro's hot breath hit her ears, his chuckles turning into laughter that rocked threw his chest. Coran and Allura joining in on the laugh but the princess looked concerned as the older woman sparked pink and white.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

The lions flew out of the castle, with their paladins feeling more in sync then before. Coran, Allura and Devine standing in the newly revived field in front of the castle, green grass and flowers swaying in the breeze as the lions flew over them. Devine's eyes sparkled as she observed the lions flying in the classic V formation as she held back the lose strands of white hair that freely danced in the breeze from her face.

The Black Lion spear heading the formation. The woman felt something strangely warm sensation on her back, hearing the five Lions growl, creating a rainbow-colored trail with their glowing quintessence. She couldn't stop herself from grinning excitedly as she watched Obsidian retract her front paws into her sholders, Ruby and Peridot becoming arms as they attached to the black lion's shoulders, Sapphire and Topaz becoming the legs, attaching to Obsidian's rear paws before her mouth opened, revealing a human like face underneath creating the head as the black lion's yellow ears unfolded into a horn like head piece. The giant robot striking a rather heroic pose as the transformation was completed, carefully landing on the ground as the grass and flowers gently swayed from the displaced air, gently caressing the blue and yellow limbs.

"It's Voltron~! It's Voltron~! They finally formed Voltron~!" Devine chanted gleefully, unable to keep her feet on the ground, floating in the air giggling at the strange feeling coming over her, doing some flips and twist as she squealed happily in her childlike excitement. The Alteans looked up at the giant robot in relief and nostalgia with their feet firmly on the ground.

"I told you I could get them to do it. They just needed a common enemy." Allura mussed proudly, remembering when she had first seen the lions combine as a child, her blue eyes sparking with a glimmer of hope.

"It's true. Like the old proverb says, _'A man can be driven to do anything,_ _if a beautiful woman is just really, really mean to him'_." Coran worded sagely from behind Allura who scowled at her advisor before Devine flipped upside down in the air to his left. "I think you mean, _'A man can be driven to do anything, if given the right motivation.'"_ Devine commented as she grinned widely, her golden eyes sparking with as her furry ears twitched excitedly. "Or _'A man would do anything to please a beautiful woman.'_ " She added jokingly as she felt _Voltron,_ not the individual lions, reach out and cress her quintessence and sooth her excitement.

' _Wonderful job~, Paladins of Voltron.'_ Devine though calmly, unaware of the Paladins hearing her thought threw her mental connection to Voltron, her attention focusing on the gold and teal colored V across it's chest in confusion, the color seeming to appear inverted before she blinked, the insignia back to its normal coloring suddenly.

 _'What was that?'_

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Once back everyone was back inside the castle, the Paladins almost immediately went to bed in their assigned rooms. Allura and Coran truing in soon after, leaving a still awake Devine to work off her access energy by exploring the castle a little more.

Entering the healing pod chamber to check on the rescued prisoners, the woman frowned as she spotted the youngest paladin among the occupied pods, back to the door. "Pidge?" She called out to the green paladin, getting no response as sadness emanated from their small form, sitting on the floor with their head down hyper focused their laptop.

"Pidge?" Devine called a little louder, still no response as she walked into the eerily quiet room. Her bare feet softly padding across the cold floor as she crouched down next to Pidge, spotting the infamous photo of the paladin with her brother, the Kerberos ship in the background.

"Katie." Devine called out worriedly, causing green paladin to jump in surprise before looking at the older woman, eyes wide and glossy with unshed tears behind the fake lenses.

"M-miss Devine!?" Pidge... Katie looked at her with surprise and fear.

"It's alright, I think only Shiro and I know who you really are, Miss Holt." Devine tried to assure the young girl with a small smile, but young paladin still looked frightened of her. "How... how do you know my name?" she asked fearfully as Devine hesitated before pulling out the carefully folded letter from her pant pocket, slightly creased from being hidden in her pocket for a while. Brown eyes locked on to the familiar scribble on the innocent looking white envelope, reading the familiar words...

 _To my precious daughter,_

 ** _Katie 'Pidgeon' Sofa Holt_**

The young girl stared at it for a moment in shock, before snatching the envelope away, quickly ripping it open and fearing what she might find in the letter written in her father's messy handwriting. Her full name along with the nickname her brother and father had given her when she was a toddler.

"This was meant to be a farewell letter, should he die before seeing you again, but... I think you could use it as a little proof that your father is still alive." Devine informed her enviously as Katie read the letter carefully, brown eyes tearing up more as she flipped through the several pages Dr. Holt had written to her. Devine resisted her curiosity and neither opened nor read the letters the he had written out of respect. Her chest constricting her breathing as she let the young girl before her cry silently.

"H-he's still alive?" Katie asked, trying to wipe away her tears, nudging the unnecessary glasses out of place. "Yes, and I can personally assure you that he safe from the clutches of the Galra." She reassured her, giving her a soft smile. Carefully pulling off her glasses to wipe away the tears that where still escaping her eyes. The imprint on the glasses where of loving, family related emotions, put there by both brother and sister, Devine still feeling traces of Matt's quintessence in them.

"How can you say that?" Katie asked, as Devine chuckled in amusement. Replacing the glasses gently on her face, letting a white mist flow from her finger tips into the young girl's head, brown eyes turned white as she could no longer see the strange woman.

 _Instead, Katie could see her father in Galra prison garb, looking terrified as he seemed to look right at her with his identical brown eyes behind rectangular frames. His hair was longer and unkept, a mustache and chin beard having grown on his face during the months he was gone. His back pressing to a wall, trapped in a Galra prison cell._

 _When she blinked, Katie could now her father smiling, dressed in a strange white and blue coat, his hair cut, facial hair carefully trimmed, sitting down with a cup of coffee, smiling as he pushed four envelopes across the stark white table. Each one addressed to a family member and one with Shiro's name written in sloppy kanji, a tanned arm with lavender nails reaching out and carefully picking them up_.

Upon blinking once more, the green paladin stared at the woman, who smiled at her knowingly.

"How else do you think I got those letters?" Devine asked, as she pulled her hands away from the shocked paladin, pulling back the sleeve of her jacket from her right arm, showing Katie her naturally tanned skin and lavender nails. Katie looked at her hands for a moment before tackling the woman to the ground in a desperate hug.

"Thank you." Katie uttered with relief as she burred her head into the older female's upper chest, Devine laying on her back, ignoring the sharp tinge of pain before gently placing a kiss on the young girl's head. The green paladin falling asleep listening to the woman's heart beat and feeling her quintessence wrap around her like a warm blanket.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine smiled as she made her way out of Pidge's room, putting her to bed after changing her out of her casual clothes and into some cute green pajamas with alien sheep on them. Being careful, she reached out to brush the other quintessence signatures inside the castle, Hunk, Lance, Keith where out like lights, Allura was still in the first stages of getting restful sleep, and Coran was almost vibrating as his quintessence shook slightly from his snoring.

A cold chill ran down her back as she reached out to feel Shiro's quintessence, spiked with rising fear and panic. Worriedly, Devine quietly entered his room without knocking, spying the black paladin on the single bed, tossing and turning while fighting a former opponent in his nightmares. Slipping further into the room she walked over to the side of his bed before carefully calling out to him.

"Shiro? Shiro, wake up." She called out his name carefully, frowning worriedly as she watched his face wrinkle in phantom pain.

"T-takashi?" Devine called out his given name hesitantly, but the Japanese paladin seemed to be in too deep a sleep to hear her, Shiro let out a sharp cry of pain that startled her into biting her lip in worry.

' _I could shock him... but that could make it worse... or... could slapping him help? Sorry, Shiro._ ' She thought remorsefully as she raised her right and smacked it across the sleeping paladin's face.

"AGH!" Shiro's cried out it shock and pain, gray eyes popping wide open, slightly glowing, as he bolted up from his bed, covered in a light sheen of sweat, panting heavy in shock from being woken so suddenly from the nightmare like memory. The fear that exploded from Shiro's body, brought Devine to her knees from them over whelming emotion, almost blacking out as her eyes briefly turned blue before returning to their glowing gold color.

"D-devine! Are you okay?" Shiro asked, noticing her in his room as he tried to calm down, seeing her visibly shaking in the dark room. "Y-yeah, are you okay? I could feel you having a nightmare down the hall." She asked him, willing away the fear by taking a deep breath, slowly exhaling it in a wisp of blue mist that harmlessly dissipated into the air.

"Y-yeah, thanks for waking me." Shiro thanked her tiredly, feeling the sting of her slap on his left cheek, covering his eyes with his hand to rub the tiredness from his eyes. Devine panicky racked her brain for a good idea to help him with the nightmares that didn't involve drugging him again.

"What... what was it about?" she asked cautiously, not getting up from the floor. She had an idea of what he had been dreaming about but wanted him to tell her to partly confirm her suspicions. Shiro was quiet for a while, Devine slowly got back on her feet, not wanting to startle the paladin anymore then he already was with any sudden movements. She let him gather his composure, almost expecting him to not answer her question and share his nightmare with her.

"I was... back with the Galra... fighting this massive alien." Shrio voiced tiredly, hand falling from his face, looking down and away from the woman, who still noticed the makings of bags under his eyes, even in the dark she noticed his need for restful sleep.

"What did it look like?" she asked carefully, Shiro's eye brows frowned in thought as he recalled his first opponent. "It had this strange orb on a stick for a weapon... and it was... throwing it at me..." he admitted to her, slowly recalling the image of the monstrous alien. The black paladin expected to feel terrified from the nightmare, but there was a wave of calm washing him gently. His gray eyes peeked at the woman next to him, her golden eyes glowing softly in the dark as she seemed to be looking at his right shoulder, slightly glad that he wore a light gray tank top to bed.

"Myzax, The Gladiator." She provided the name of the Alien warrior, Shiro looked at her in shock and surprise as the name fit into his memory somehow. "You... you know him?" he hesitantly, paling as a terrifying thought came to him as he looked at the woman hiding her scars with the jacket she always wore. "I've seen him fight in the arena before... well, not so much fight then..." she trailed off, half lying to him as she bit her lip. Thinking about how scared Matt had to have been, abducted by unfriendly aliens and forced to be sacrificed to the monstrous Myzax for pointless entertainment. Then Shiro seemingly turning on the young Holt, crying for blood as his friend injured him in an attempt to save him, risking his own life in the arena.

Devine could feel Shiro's panic, making her eyes widen in worry, reaching out with her right hand to gently up his injured cheek. "I don't usually give spoilers but... you did beat him pretty soundly." She mentioned to him with a soft smile, hoping to relive his fear as he looked at her hand in confusion, cupping his cheek and glowing a soft lavender as the slight sting left his cheek. Shiro blushed as he looked at her, giving him a genial, slowly retracting her callused hand from his cheek. Something about it made him slowly relax before her let out a small chuckle, returning her smile.

"I would like to believe you. Even if you are lying." He teased lightly as he saw her eyes widen in disbelief before pouting rather cutely as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I am not lying, Shiro. If you don't believe me, maybe you could ask the prisoners you saved. Only... keep in mind that..." she tried to tell him, biting on her lip unsurely as Shiro saw her hesitation as she tried to think of the proper words. "They... they didn't see what really happened either, only you and Matt _really_ know what happened before the fight." She informed him sadly, shocking the black paladin as he stared at her in disbelief.

"How... how do you know that name?" Shiro asked, a bit nervous with her knowledge of certain things, even his given name. "I've met Dr. Holt. He... wasn't doing too well in the work camp, so we managed to get him out of the work camp safely." Devine confessed with a small smile, thinking of the eccentric scientist who was all too excited about meeting a _friendly_ alien, after his experience with the Galra, it was like a blessing to also be rescued by the friendly alien, only the commander was still weary around any Galra.

"Where is he!? And Matt!? Are they okay? Are they okay?" Shiro asked desperately, grabing Devine's upper arms suddenly and pulling the woman into his bed rather forcefully. The paladin froze as he saw her cringe in pain, yellow sparks of fear pricking at his hands that had an unnecessarily tight grip on the woman, Shiro hearing something like bone cracking reached his ears.

"S-sorry. Are you okay?" he apologized, carefully removing his hands from her upper arms. His eyes traveling to her left arm that shook slightly. Devine carefully moved to sit on the edge of his bed, her right hand carefully placed over her upper left arm, right where Shiro's Galra arm had grabbed her. The black paladin paled as he realized what he had done, only to become shocked as there was a lavender glow around Devine's right hand. He stayed quiet as he watched the lavender glow, feeling himself calm down as the woman slowly flexed her fingers, not looking at him as she seemed to be healing her broken arm.

Neither said anything until the glowing stopped, Devine letting out a soft sigh of relief, letting her hand fall from her arm.

"Please... tell me they're alright... that they're safe..." Shiro begged her quietly, feeling guilty about hurting her with his galra arm, looking at it with shame as he pulled it as far away from her as he could.

"Dr. Holt is in hiding, but he's safely out of the Galra's hands. You might even have trouble getting him back to Earth though." Devine lightly joked, forcing a small smile as she felt Shiro's guilt as he looked at her like a sad puppy she just wanted to kiss and cuddle. "As for Matt... I only know that he's been busted out by a small rebel group." She explained carefully, not wanting him to hound her for sources or more details, having said to much and done too little to try and find Matt. Not when Dr. Holt would be in the most danger if he was left in the work camp, along with the other scientists forced to create new weapons for the Galra Empire.

"That's good... thank you, and I'm sorry. Is there any way I could make it up to you?" Shiro asked nervously, watching as her furry ears perking up at the offer before giving a small twitch. Her golden eyes wide before they looked away, the black paladin almost seeing a few sparks of pink.

 _'Can you just pet me, please~?'_

Shiro blinked in surprise at hearing her thoughts again, something telling him that it wasn't Obsidian using the woman's voice. He smiled as she bit her lip, preventing herself from making the request out loud before she let out a disappointed sigh. "Don't worry about it, just get some-ah~hha~." Devine was saying before she felt his left hand gently petting one of her fluffy ears. The feeling of the warm appendage slowly running along the shell of her ear, made her blush before it got to the sensitive base made her shiver with anticipation as the black paladin gave it a light scratch with his blunt finger nails. The combination disrupting her thoughts as she leaned into Shiro's hand, purring blissfully at the strange and new sensation. Coming closer to the Japanese male too be able to wrap her arms around him as she cuddled into his chest affectionately.

' _Cute.'_ Shiro mused with a small blush, Devine barely registering his thoughts, not caring as he ran his hand over her ears for a few ticks. At some point pushing him back to lay on the bed, while Shiro's blush deepened as she lay on top of him, purring softly even as he stopped petting her ears.

" _Nyan_ ~ don't stop~." She begged selfishly as she nuzzled Shiro's neck, making his blush darken but he still did as she asked. Her purring soothing the tense paladin as she didn't so anything more then cuddle up to him, a lot like a cat.

Shiro smiled softly as he ran his hand threw her hair, he carefully pulled the thin blanket from between them so that it could cover them both, feeling Devine starting to fall asleep while purring contently. It was a soft noise that lulled the paladin to sleep, along with slightly heavy, but warm and soft body on top of him. It felt familiar, a strange scent reaching his nose, but the paladin couldn't place what it was.

Both were drifted off to sleep, being pulled into a different world that resembled a savanna at night, five oddly colored Lioness approaching a vulnerable Devine.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine felt herself wake up slowly feeling herself cuddling something pleasantly firm and warm within making her less willing to get out of bed. _'Just a few more minutes with the-_ ' Devine's mind snapped into realization that the thing she was cuddling...was alive!

The scent of a thunder storm, sweat, and metal reaching her nose before she opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room, laying in an unfamiliar bed, with a very familiar quintessence physically pressed against her own. ' _SHIRO!?'_ she screamed internally as her heart hammered in her chest, disturbing the peacefully sleeping paladin for a moment as Devine internally panicked and blushing bright red as she sparked pink.

Shiro just rolled onto his left side, his Galra arm wrapping around her waist under the blanket they shared, pining Devine between his body and the wall that was inches from her back. Trying to keep calm she carefully she lifted his arm off her waist before floating off the bed, giving off pink sparks as she reluctantly slipped out of the black paladin's arms. Part of her wanting to stay and cuddle with the sleep deprived Voltron leader for as long as she could, watching Shiro sleep for a moment as she hesitated with leaving.

Shiro's brow crinkled in confusion, searching for her warmth next to him even in his sleep, but he stopped searching as Devine pulled the blanket over his shoulder. Giving a quiet relived sigh she ran her fingers threw her messy white hair, quickly noticing two things. One: she was missing her favorite jacket again, and Two: Shiro's hands had left dark purple bruises on her upper arms.

" _Crud_." She cursed quietly, looking around the room for the jacket, quickly giving up before just quietly leaving the room. Only to freeze in fear as she noticed Katie was up and in the hall way, a glare on her glasses hid mischievous eyes, but Devine could feel shock coming from the young girl.

"You saw _nothing_." Devine quietly hissed as the green paladin smirked in amusement.

"I don't know. Seems like it would be something to _share_ with the others~." The young girl mussed confidently, confusing Devine a little but she could feel the other's starting to wake up. "What do you want young _lady_?" the older woman asked in a low hiss, getting to the point.

"May I please pet your ears, _Mommy_ ~?" Katie asked politely, giving the woman some very cute puppy dog eyes. Devine felt her heart leap out of her chest at being called ' _Mommy'_ by someone she viewed as a child, a weakness only few knew of.

' _D-danm you, Doctor Holt!'_ she thought angrily before sighing in defeat.

"Fine, let me take a shower and dress first. Okay? Then I'll let you feel them as long as you keep your lips shut about this." She reasoned, as the green paladin thought it over before grinning. "About what?" Pidge asked innocently, as if she didn't see the older woman sneaking out of Shiro's room with messy hair, missing jacket, and bruises. Devine looked at the young paladin in surprise at the familiar phrase before smirking proudly.

"Good girl." Devine praised before disappearing into her designated room, Pidge felt pride in putting her father's information about the strange woman to good use... for herself.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine sighed as she brushed out her long white locks, avoiding her fluffy ears that now had pinkish stripes decorating the white fur as she looked at her own reflection staring back at her from the vanity mirror. Going with black slacks and a baggy lavender t-shirt with the phrase ' _Bite Me'_ written in an alien language, painted in a yellowish green color. Golden eyes glowing as they peered into the reflective surface, not recognizing the face that looked back at her, a stranger's pale face looking back at her with dull brown eyes. Disturbed by creeping thoughts she turned away and nearly screamed, noticing Pidge standing only a foot away from her suddenly.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking young lady!?" Devine nearly shouted in surprise as her stripes turned yellow, admitting a few sparks of the same color that arched across her skin. "I did, but you looked pretty distracted. I wanted to ask you about those crystals on your back and those scars. Shiro was thinking about it during our mind meld training. What happened to you~ _Mommy_?" Pidge asked as she looked at the woman with slight worry and curiosity.

Devine's heart pounded heavily in her chest at the title, as she didn't want to explain her scars to an _outsider_ that seemed to be so mentally healthy.

"S-stop calling me _Mommy_. That's not gonna work every time if you keep it up like this." Devine lied, and Pidge seemed to know it. "Those Crystals... are the result of some painful gene manipulation." She admitted unsurely looking away from the green paladin, setting down the hair brush, trying calm down her racing heart, while also cursing the girl's father for writing about her little ' _quarks'_. She breathed calmly before looking back at Pidge. "You are to tell no one about what goes on in this or Shiro's room. Am I clear _Miss Holt_?" she instructed, narrowing her eyes at the girl who only grinned at the unintentional opening.

" _Crystal Clear_ ~." Pidge took the set up happily as she saw the woman give her that openly surprised look her father mentioned, taking it to mean she had stunned the woman into genuinely snorting before letting out a small chuckle of amusement.

"I walked right into that one, didn't I?" Devine asked, smiling at Pidge as the younger female was looking at the large furry appendages move, and the stripes change color, going from yellow, to blue, before turning pink. "Are they as soft as they look?" she asked as Devine slipped off the bench and onto the large fluffy white rug that took up half the room's floor space.

"Come and find out for yourself." The woman offred as the green paladin happily and carefully reached for the feline ears. Devine shivering at the small, cold hands but let the young girl pet her ears for a few moments as she plotted her revenge, purring as the green paladin's feminine nails scratched behind her ears.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Four Paladins entered the main deck, fully dressed in their armor, ready for another day of fighting the Zarkon and the Galra Empire. The Alteans smiling proudly before the princess spoke to them.

"Now you are starting to look like true Paladians, but... where's Pidge?" Allura asked, confused as she did not see the smallest paladin.

"Eh? I saw him go into Devine's room before we left for a shower. I would have never thought he would go for an older chick, but her name isn't _divine_ for nothing am I right?" Lance voice as he nudged Shiro, who blushed lightly. The black paladin remembering that he had fallen asleep to Devine's purrs as he pet her. The strange tangy sweet scent, the soft warmth of another living body and slightly heavy weight on his chest had lulled him into an odd dream he already forgot. Waking up alone in bed with Devine's jacket, proof that she had been in bed with him.

"I'll go see what they're doing. We can still squeeze in some training before we have whatever is for lunch." Shiro announced, about to leave the main deck when Pidge ran into the room as a blur of green before tackling the black paladin.

"Shiro help me!" Pidge cried out fearfully as she clung onto him, stunning the whole room.

"Pidge! What's wrong? Did something happen?" the older paladin asked worriedly as he felt Pidge shake before lifting their head to look at him. Shiro was stunned speechless as he looked down at the green paladin. Pidge's hair was pulled into two cute chestnut brown poufs on the side of her head, black lines streaking down her cheeks from the still fresh mascara on her darken lashes, a light dusting of some peal pink blush on her cheeks, and a soft yellow green colored lipstick ran messily across her full looking lips.

"Whoa, did you go through her make up or something?" Hunk asked, confused as the other paladins took in their comrades made up face.

"Why did you put on makeup?" Keith asked confused as Lance smirked at the easy opportunity. "You look like a girl. All you need now is a dress~." He teased but small the small paladin pale in terror.

"No!" The green paladin yelled in destress as they quickly pulled her short hair out of the hair bands, ripping out a few strands of hair in the process. "Miss Devine was putting this on me for petting her ears, but I saw her-" Pidge was interrupted as Devine walked, more like floated, into the room, looking to cheerful as she glowed softly with delight, her hands behind her back as she grinned widely.

" _Oh~_ _Pidgeon~_ why did you run off like that? Your nails are still wet, and I haven't even put the top coat on yet~." She practically sang as the older Paladins looked at Pidge's nails, seeing how they now matched to the coat of the green lion. "Shiro, make her stop!" Pidge pleaded, dunking behind the Japanese male for safety, the other's watched in amusement as their leader sighed, trying to suppress a small smile of amusement.

"Alright. Miss Devine, that's enough. Pidge is too young for make-up, and we have training to do." He reasoned with her as the woman giggled floating over to him in her enjoyment. Then flying over him to hang upside down behind the green paladin who gave a swak of surprise.

"Your gonna need these, Pidge." Devine mused cheerfully, pulling out Pidge's glasses and a bag of make-up remover wipes from behind her back. The young paladin took them quickly before getting rid of the make-up on her face urgently. The older woman flipping up right in the air, brushing her hair away from her grinning face.

"I'll go get lunch ready and leave you to your training." Devine mused as she let her bare feet touch the oddly warm floor, letting her mind wander as she left the room. ' _I wonder how the Arusians are doing. Hope they didn't get too scared from all the training.'_ She thought of the cuddly, snail like aliens that inhabited the planet, grabbing he favorite boots she left the castle and in the direction of the Aurian village.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Hello? Anyone here?" Devine called out worriedly, walking into what seemed to be an abandoned village. Looking around with only her eyes she couldn't see anyone, using her quintessence to create a low wave threw the ground, she could _feel_ them cower in fear in their little huts.

"It's okay! I come with word from the Lion Goddess!" she shouted with a tinge of guilt as got almost all of the Arusians to pop their heads out form their various hiding places with a few soft whispers spreading among those still hidden.

"The Lion Goddess? Her divine herald returns to us!" yelled one Arusian as the small creatures swarmed around Devine excitingly before the Chief came up to her, annoyance hidden behind his smile as he raised his hands in welcome.

"Oh! Devine herald~! What word has the _Lion Goddess_ sent you to deliver to us?" He asked as Devine gave him a cold smile, trying not to alarm any of the villagers. "The Lion Goddess apologizes for any fear or damage her awakening may have caused the _village_ and the people of Arus." She reported curtly, the chief smiling in confusion as news flooded threw the village.

"There is nothing to forgive; we praise the Lion Goddess for what she has given us threw her noble lions." The chief voiced, slightly nervous as he prompted several Arusians to come forward, each carrying baskets filled with food, cloth, toys, and even art.

"Please _Divine herald_ , deliver these gifts to her as our tribute for her protection." The chief asked with confidence, Devine looking down at the baskets before looking around at the villagers carefully. "Will giving this away negatively affect your village?" she asked, feeling some sadness and shock go threw out the village as the chief gasped.

"N-no Devine herald! The lions have given us a bountiful harvest, our women weaved the finest cloth that is worthy of touching divine feet, even toys and art offered by the young ones as well!" He exclaimed as the baskets where presented, to her one by one for inspection.

Some of the food she could take, seeing that all the Aruians where all well fed and healthy since the last time she visited them. Making a mental note to test them for their compatibility to be ingested by humans at least. There was a lot of cloth, while it wasn't of poor quality, it wasn't as luxurious as the cloth already in the castle's sewing room, but she could take to make her own little projects. Then came the toys, a small smile of amusement bloomed on her face as she saw the childish offerings before her eyes spotted familiar white hair from under another toy.

Halting the Arusian carrying the basket, she plucked a familiar doll from under the other toys. The villagers froze in fear as they saw the doll's hair, looking identical to Devive's white locks that shimmed with other colors in the Arusian sun.

The doll was made from scraps of fabric, each a different shade of brown stitched together neatly to from the body. Two yellow crystals for eyes gleamed back at the woman with its mouth stitched into a joyful smile. An off white cloth that was once a handkerchief was stitched together with lavender thread to crate a crude dress for the doll that held a hidden secret, making Devine's eyes narrow in suspension.

"Who offered this doll?" she asked calmly, feeling the imprint of its true owner, but the woman could clearly remember who she had made it for. A little Arusian girl was shoved before Devine, the chief frowned at her in disappointment, shaking his head. She looked scared as tears started to spill from her eyes, trembling before the doll was offered back to her, Devine giving an understanding smile.

"The Lion Goddess wishes for this to be returned, as she will not accept gifts that were forcibly taken from another." The little girl gasped as she took the doll back, giving it a relived hug. "Thank you again, Miss Devine Herald." The little girl bowed to her before disappearing into the other villagers, away from the children who glared enviously at her.

"Please let the children keep their toys, their art will be enough to please the Prin-Lion Goddess." Devine corrected herself, trying to maintain the illusion she had unintentionally taken. "I will need your bravest warrior to come with me to meet the Goddess and her lions." She announced as the Arusians gasped in shock, all of them turning to look at Klyzap, who was frozen in shock along with his little sister who hugged her returned doll closer to her chest.

"As the Lion Goddess wishes!" the chief yelled as everyone cheered, except for Klyzap who was shaking in fear, holding his sister tighter before Devine approached them with a soft smile as she extended her hand to him.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"It's going to be okay Klyzap. The Lion goddess is nice and so are her lions. The only one that maybe a bit hostile is the red one, but he's not going to hurt you, I promise." Devine spoke to the frightened Arusian as he carried the papers that where children's art work, and she carried everything else as they were making their way to the castle.

"T-thank you Miss Devine Herald, I will protect you on your joinery back with my life! My sister also thanks you for returning her doll." The Arusian voiced feeling relived as his sister's only toy was returned, after some bullies took it in jealousy.

"No problem. I gave it to her as a gift, as much as I gave you that sword." Devine giggled as she noticed the dagger like sword at the Arusian's hip. While it was made out of a jagged black stone it's sides and points where sharp, holding a smooth red sphere where the wooden hilt met the blade, the image of a roaring lion inside of it. The two continued to talk as they were unaware of being watched, three golden eyes and one red eye watched them get closer to the castle, before the Arusian stopped a few feet from the grand entrance.

Klyzap taking in the beautiful site, having only ever seen the castle in its dormant state, now it was alight with glowing teal panels along it's pristine white exterior looking other worldly. Devine chuckled as she saw him fall onto his back trying to see the top of the castle, while in the distance she could see the paladin's training. Lions coming together to from Voltron in a display of color before becoming this reality's greatest symbol of hope.

Then there was a loud boom as the _Symbol of Hope_ lost its balance. Devine couldn't help but burst out laughing at the amusing site, not holding back her amusement as she floated in the air with joy.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"This looks like a normal human lunch, right?" Devine asked her self as she looked at the what she had prepared for the humans so far from home. Several small golden yellow rolls made with the Arusiuans' recipe, almost directly from the oven as they cooled on the counter. Some cooked, redish-brown oats topped with a few small berries and naturally edible orange flower petals in several bowls, several oval shaped slices of purplish meat that was cooked and seasoned to be consumable by humans, some scrambled mint green colored eggs, and freshly squeezed juice that was a light blue in color, and some pinkish colored tea prepared for the liberated prisoners.

"It almost looks like a rainbow." She mussed before carefully arranging the rolls onto two large serving plates before leaving for the dinning room just as Coran's nose lead him into the kitchen. "Ah ha! So this is the source of that captivating aroma." The Altean eyed the rainbow of lunch with interest before getting an idea. "This is all nice and well but I think I can whip up something a little more hearty for the new paladins." Coran grinned proudly before pressing several buttons on to goo dispenser.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Great job training, guys. We're really getting the hang of forming Voltron." Shiro praised as he and his team walked into the dining room, having all worked up an appetite forming Voltron.

"Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile!" Lance booted happily as he took a seat at the table which was already set for each paladin save for the food they could all smell in the kitchen. "Yeah, that'll come in _real_ handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match." Keith added sarcastically as he took the seat next to Lance.

"Hey! I did something cool and you can't handle it. I get it." Lance smirked knowingly as the red paladin as he took off his helmet with a stylish move. "Your kick ruined our balance and we fell because of you, Lance." Keith accused with a slight glare at the other boy after removing his own helmet. "That falling part was Hunk's fault." Lance accused, pointing at his large friend on the other side of Keith. "Hey!" Hunk cried out in an accused tone, pulling off his helmet before grabbing one of the warm rolls on the table.

"All right, save your energy for fighting Zarkon." Shiro reasoned as he broke up the small fight between the three young men as he took off his own helmet, taking a seat at one end of the table, his nose picking up the smell of Devine's cooking when Hunk happily bit into one of the rolls.

"Oh~ so good. I wonder what Miss Devine's cooking is as good as this." The yellow paladin voiced as Lance and Keith curiously took a roll, taking a small bite before eagerly devouring the small morsel and reaching for another. "Hey, you two. Leave room for your actual lunch." Shiro lightly scolded, taking a bun for himself and taking a curious bite. ' _DISGUSTING!'_ the Black paladin jumped at the sudden thought and wave distress coming over him, nearly choking on the bread before the kitchen doors opened, Coran walking in proudly with a covered dish.

"Ahoy, Young Paladins! How was the Voltron workout?" He asked cheerfully, setting the dish down on the table as Hunk drooled in anticipation of more of the woman's food. "Good, is Miss. Devine okay?" Shiro asked unsurely as Coran seemed to puff his chest out in pride. "Of course, she just tried a bite of an Authentic, Ancient Paladin lunch! She was completely floored by its exotic taste." The Altean boasted as he removed the lid to expose his creation. The paladins cringed they saw what looked like more of green meteorite with tubes of yellow goo floating inside it.

The site of it alone made the paladin's queasy when they heard the kitchen doors opened again, Devine looking terrifying with her wide eyes turned yellow, elongated fanged teeth bared, her hands turned an unnatural blueish gray with her nails glowing a toxic purple color, an early black mist surrounding the woman as she glared at Coran, who seemed to pale at he looked at Devine in utter horror as she slowly approached the orange Altean.

" _Coran_... you are here by **_BANNED_** from ever cooking **_ANYTHING_** , ever again." She hissed sternly as smokey gray lighting was added to the black mist, looking almost scary enough to give Zarkon nightmares.

 ** _"WHAT!"_** Coran squawked in shock, the younger paladin's cheered hesitantly, but Shiro looked at her worriedly as she took several deep breaths with her eyes closed, before the paladin got up to approach her slowly.

"Are you okay?" The eldest paladin asked, watching as the mist faded away before he got near enough to touch her, holding out his arms incase she fell from how much she was shaking. Devine nodded as her hands returned to normal slowly, closing her eyes as she covered her mouth uneasily. "I think... I got it out of my system,... but... I've lost my appetite." Devine told him, her voice scratchy before she walked over to _'The Paladin Lunch'_ slamming the dome back over the culinary abomination forcefully without opening her eyes.

"I'll have you know, this is packed with nutrients needed for healthy growing younglings. I've cooked for Princess Allura for years, and she's perfectly fine eating my cooking." Coran defended his cooking as Hunk grimaced as he noticed how pale Devine had turned as her head quickly with a sickening crack, eyes still yellow as the black mist returned.

"You serve that same foul-smelling concoction to your _princess_!?" she hissed, before coughing by the strain to her vocal cords, the mist quickly disappearing again.

"Of course! That's how you know it's healthy!" Coran boasted as he opened the lid, breathing in the smell like it was an assortment of flowers. Lance cringed as he held his nose and Keith placed his hands over his mouth and nose at the smell. "Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you're switching it up?" Hunk asked as he crinkled his nose at the smelly dish. Devine slamming the lid back on it as she glared at Coran angrily, baring her teeth.

"If you _try_ and feed this to _any_ of them, I will leave you coated in salt, and tided down for wild Yalmors to lick _ALL_ your skin off. Am I clear?" she threatened as the Altean bolted to the other side of the room quickly in fear, the human paladins where confused yet relived at her very effective threat. "R-right! No need to act like a mother Yalmor protecting her young." Coran shivered in fear as Devine sighed and took a seat in the nearest chair to groan painfully as her head hit the table.

"Coran, we're on a planet with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever else Miss Devine has found that we could eat." Hunk explained, getting another roll to bite into. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm going to head to the kitchen and spice things up. No office miss Devine but your cooking is a bit too _simple_." Hunk added as he got up to march to the kitchen before being stopped by the woman pulling seeming from her jacket pocket.

"Hunk, you'll want this." she held up a small yellow notebook, offering it to a confused Hunk as he opened it, eyes widening and sparking with happiness as he looked at her. "I translated it into your Human language, so it should be helpful with identifying the plants with room to take down your own notes." She sat up to give him a soft smile before the large paladin picked her suddenly into a massive hug. "Thank you, Miss Devine! I will put it to good use right now!" Hunk beamed as he let her go, dashing into the kitchen eagerly, missing Devine slap her hand over her mouth to keep her stomach down. Something about Altean space goo remined her of the seafood allergy she had back in her reality.

"Coran, are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet?" Shiro asked, changing the subject as Coran pouted about his cooking. "I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus."

"Hmm, just about. In the meantime, try to get your minds off those duck seats you're so worried about." Coran suggested as the black paladin noticed they were short one Pidge. "Where's Pidge?" Shiro asked as he was sure Devine was alright. "Checking on the rescued prisoners in the infirmary again." She informed him, feeling the youngest paladin a few levels away, having tested her sensory limits to stretch at least a mile away from her center, corrupted quintessence slightly limiting her ability.

"Yes, they should all be waking up soon." Coran agreed and tried one last time to get the Paladins to eat his cooking.

"Open the hatch, food lion coming in!" Coran got a spoon full of the goo, imitating the pretend airplane parents often used with babies or toddlers, on Shiro. While according to the human calendar he was technically the youngest paladin at age 6, he was also the oldest at age 25. Devine snorted in amusement at Coran's attempt being up that small fact, Lance and Keith also shared her amusement but Shiro was not impressed as the smell reached his nose, fully understanding Devine's harsh reaction to it.

"No. Just... no." The paladin responded firmly before backing away slowly from the Altean to escape from being force feed. "Shiro there's a tray of warm tea in the kitchen, could you take it to the infirmary for our guests? I'm sure there still plenty scared but tell them it's from ' _The Healer'_. They'll understand." She helpfully subjected as Shiro seemed relived for the excuse, but was a bit confused by the strange title she had mentioned as he left.

' _The Healer?'_

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Hunk happily rushed back into the dining room with the lunch Devine had originally made for them long with more food that looked and smelled very appetizing. Placing one of his concoctions in front of Devine who blinked in surprise. Even if she knew he was a good cook in the first place, she wasn't hungry after Coran's abomination assaulted her taste buds. Lance and Keith where practically drooling over their plates, ready to dig in, but were stopped by Hunk as he gave them a firm glare.

"Hold up! Miss Devine gets first bite, since she saved us from Coran's cooking." He reasoned, making the other two paladins pout but wait for Devine to take the first bite.

"You boys can go ahead and eat; I don't think my stomach can handle anything right now." Devine explained, trying not to remember how bad it tasted before she quickly swallowed it, and actually tasting better as her body forcefully retched it as soon as Coran left the kitchen.

"All the more reason for you to eat Miss Devine~. I used some herbs for soothing tummy aches in this one just for you." Hunk beamed happily pushing a plate of sweet smelling food closer to her. Devine was unsure of what to do other then try a bite of the large paladin's creation, but she couldn't force her self to eat so soon after the violent wave of nausea. Hunk picking up a spoon and held it up to her lips temptingly, giving her an adorable pout with his pleading chocolate brown eyes reminded her strongly of an adorable yellow tabby cat.

" _Please~_?" he asked innocently, as Devine felt a sharp pang in her heart as she opened her mouth in shock, only for the yellow paladin to insert the thoughtful meal before she closed her mouth, her eyes widening in surprise at the flavors hitting her taste buds.

"Well?" Hunk asked, looking excited as he watched as pink sparks, arching into little pink hearts as Devine froze as she tried to measure her response to the yellow paladin's meal. "Doesn't that usually happen around Shiro?" Lance questioned in confusion before the woman pulled the spoon from her mouth and swallowed the food.

"It's _wonderful_ ~, Hunk." Devine smiled with honestly as her stomach begged for more loudly, making her blush with embarrassment, and Hunk beamed with pride. "Thank you. Now you guys can dig in." as soon as Hunk gave them the go ahead, Keith and Lance practically inhaled their lunch as if they hadn't eaten in two days, stuffing their faces with it.

Devine chuckled at their appreciation for Hunk's cooking, the yellow paladin's own confidence and happiness was refreshing to feel after so much worry and panic was coming from him before. It eased her mind and stomach enough to finish the food and some of what Hunk had lovingly prepared, just at a slower pace than the two young paladins, his emotions having leaked into the food in a way she didn't often feel in any reality...

The love for friend.

The only dark cloud in the room was Coran sulking in the corner when the princess walked in for lunch. "They like the paladin lunch!" Allura responded happily watching Keith and Lance wolf down the food, Devine eating with them at a more polite speed as she sparked small pink hearts with everybite.

"I don't want to talk about it." Coran huffed, holding his head up with his arms crossed, confusion the princess before she shared the good news. "Any way, I just got the final nebulon booster working. So we should be able to leave Planet Arus tomorrow and take the fight to Zarkon." Allura told them her grin widening in excitement before the alarms rang and red lights flashed in warning.

The Pladian's stood up, ready to get to their Lions, Lance slurping up the noodles in his mouth as Allura waved her hand to bring up a holographic screen that showed the outside of the castel, Klyzap trying to be _stealthy_ as he approached the doors, hiding behind rocks and bushes as well as he could. "What is that?" Keith asked in confusion as Klyzap yelled, his sword at the ready as the gem embedded in it glowed softly. "I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a local Arusian." Allura guessed, as they stared at the screen watching him pop in and out of view cutely.

"His name is Klyzap, he's the bravest and only warrior in the nearby village of Arusians." Devine informed them as she finished her food before pulling out stacks of childish drawings form a bag she had left under the dining room table. "They are the ones who gave me this in tribute to Voltron." She told them before pulling out a random piece of art work to show them.

It was a rather childish drawing of Voltron battling the Galra battleship, and Devine could feel the excitement and admiration the child put into it. "Well you are our liaison, so nice liaisoning." Lance commented as he smiled at her looking threw more art work and pulling out one of the blue lion that seemed to be well drawn and detailed.

"Ohh~! Can I have this one?" he asked grinning with glee as she nodded. "Sure, we can go to the village so be sure to tell them you like their work." She mused pulling out more to show the others, Hunk's eyes glittering at the strong image of Topaz plowing the dirt, and Keith glanced at the image of Ruby prancing around in the fire.

"He's so cute with his little dagger~" Hunk gushed at Klyzap who poked his head out to check for hostiles. "Doesn't look too dangerous." Lance mussed as Keith summoned his bayard, suspicious of an attack. "You never know."

"But he's adorable." Hunk chuckled at the red paladin before Lance chimed in. "Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!" he joked in amusement. "No Keith. Alteans believe in peace first, so let's go and welcome him to the castle." Allura looked worriedly at Keith. "I'm not taking any chances. Not with that weird glow on his weapon." The red paladin said stubbornly as they all went to go greet their guest.

"It's alright Keith, I gave it to him, as a kind of symbol of friendship. Besides he barely knows how to use it, and you two are about the same age really." Devine told Keith who didn't look convinced.

"Did you make it into a sword too?" he asked scoffing before he stumbled a little in surprise, feeling his hip get bumped by the woman beside him. "I did, so relax. The Arusians are primitive but peaceful people. No need to cause a fuss out of nothing. Right?" She asked, smiling at him before they made it to the castle doors. Devine biting her lip as she thought of the outcome she was familiar with and the truths she now knew about the Arusian king.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Greetings, brave warrior Kylzap. We know you're there." Allura stated in a friendly tone as the Arusian was hiding in a bush, feeling scared as the princess looked to Devine for guidance, but the woman simply stood next to her.

"Kylzap? It's okay, please come greet the Lion Goddess and her Lion Paladins. She has been waiting to meet you." Devine smiled at her friend encouragingly. Klyzap poked his head carefully out of his hiding place with a small blush of embarrassment, before narrowing his eyes at Keith who was glaring at him. Jumping out of the bush the Arusian banished his crude weapon at the red paladin, trying to look intimidating.

"Aw~" Hunk cooed at the little creature who was trembled slightly in fear.

"Drop your weapon!" Keith yelled, jumping in front of the two females with is bayard brandished against the little creature. "No one takes Kylzap's special weapon!" The Arusain yelled, pointing it at the red paladin, even as he shook in fear of the larger creatures that outnumbered him. "Keith, put that away!" Allura ordered in shock as Devine pulled Keith back by the ear.

"Put your Bayard away Keith. Kylzap is a friend of mine." She scolded him, letting go of his ear as his weapon retracted in favor of cupping his injured ear. Devine then approached the Arusian who still had his eyes on Keith, weary of the strangers with her. "He is the red one you spoke of Devine herald?" Klyzap asked as she smiled and nodded in confirmation. "Yes, he is. Now allow me to share their names with you then." Devine said calmly as he lowered his weapon, eyes landing on the other dark haired and tanned female, looked at her with surprised wide eyes before bowing low to the ground before Allura.

"No! Kylzap is not worthy! He is a bad follower of the Lion Goddess for abandoning her Devine herald!" he yelled shamefully as Devine gently pat his head in reassurance.

"Devine herald?" Coran questioned with an eye brow raised. "Lion Goddess?" Hunk asked with a confused blink as Devine pulled back some moss to show them the carving on the rock, depicting a woman with a lion's head wielding a sword was carved deep into its surface.

"The Lion Goddess. According to their ancient tales, she protected them from invaders long ago, before being split up into five pieces. Four of which left Arus to protect other worlds, her head remained on Arus and was set to sleep inside the castle until she was needed again." Devine briefly explained the over all story, having learned many stories involving _'The Lion Goddess'_ , before pointing at herself. "I introduced myself as Devine, the herald of The Lion Goddess but they kinda... just thought I was divinity too." She confessed sheepishly as Allura looked curiously at the Arusian.

"What makes you think you're not worthy of sharing our names with you?" Allura asked looking down at the creature that still had his head bowed in respect.

"Destruction was everywhere. In the past few sun's, fire and ice has rained from the heavens, a giant winged beast flew overhead, an entire forest re-grew from nothing!" Kylzap exclamed, gesturing with his hands to the Lion's training space before glancing at Devine. "And Kylzap… ran in fear from a fallen giant. Abandoning the Devine herald." He admitted guilt fully, as the rest of them processed the new information.

"I think he's talking about Voltron." Hunk whispered to the others

"Yeah, I think we all got that." Lance broke it to his friend.

"But you came back, didn't you?" Allura asked the Arusian who nodded. "Y-yes, the Devine herald has been nothing but kind to Klyzap and Moontow, even giving us gifts for nothing in return." Kylzip informed as he held up his little sword again. Letting the smooth red stone glow in the light as the dark red lion insignia could be seen inside it.

"Then please, bravest warrior, take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbors." Allura asked softly as Kylzip looked at her with amazed wide eyes.

"What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?" Keith asked, not too happy about their launch being delayed. "Part of the paladins' mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks for sharing their world with us for so long." Allura explained to him before smiling fondly.

"My mother always told me to do things right, not quickly. You make fewer mistakes that way." The princess mussed fondly as the red paladin still looked unsatisfied as her huffed. "Fine, I'm going to be on the training deck." He huffed, about to walk back into the castle before Devine spoke up.

"You're coming too Keith." She said sternly, making him stop in his tracks and look at her confused. "What? Why?" He questioned before she grabbed his hand in an abnormally strong grip that she could nearly drag him into his lion.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"So how long have you been held captive by Zarkon?" Pidge asked one of the aliens, each one having emerged from the healing pods fearfully, before realizing they were safe upon seeing Shiro and little Pidge. Their shoulders wrapped in warm blankets and being given the welcomed pink tea Devine had prepared for them.

"Some for years... others decades. It's hard to tell as time becomes a blur." The gray alien said forlornly, cupping his tea in his cold hands to warm them up. The others doing the same, a few taking small sips of the liquid, Shiro helping the last one from the pod and handing the orange alien the last tea cup.

"Then you must have been there when my dad and brother arrived. Sam and Matt Holt?" Pidge asked hopefully, wondering what and where her missing family member's where. "I never knew their names, but I certainly remember the other two earthlings that arrived with Champion." The gray alien told her, looking over at Shiro who was confused by the unfamiliar title.

" _Champion_? Why do you keep calling me that?" he asked, genuinely confused much to their disbelief. "You really don't remember? Unbelievable..." The gray alien sighed with a slight huff as the other's looked at him pleadingly. "You were a legendary gladiator, undefeated in the ring... you defeated the infamous Galra gladiator, **_Myzax_**." He informed him, the black paladin only recognized the name from Devine the night before, his eyes widen as he realized she had been telling him the truth! "That was the day you earned the name Champion." The alien smiled, thinking Shiro was remembering his victories. "I was there, as was the young earthling. We were all prisoners forced to fight for the entertainment of **_Zarkon_**." He and the others shivered at the name but still looked hopeful.

"That day you were set to fight Myzax, a vile beast many thought could never be defeated. We would have inevitably been slaughtered against that monster. Not even **_The Healer_** could save us from a painful death." He mentioned, Shiro growing more curious along with Pidge, but stayed quiet as the alien continued. "This, Matt, was the first of us set to fight, but fate had other plans... you were so thirsty for blood... you injured your fellow earthling." He informed Shiro, shock and horror flowing through his body as more of Devine's words came to mind.

"You attacked my brother? Why?" Pidge asked, glaring at Shiro, feeling betrayed as he looked confused and shocked, not able to recall more from his lost memories. "No... It can't be true. Devine said they don't know what really happened, Pidge. That only Matt and I know the _real_ truth of what happened." He tried to reason with the young paladin, who didn't look convinced by his words, and neither did the Alien informing them of what had transpired. "I was there, we all were. Who is this _Devine_ you speak of? What makes them think we do not know what happened before our very eyes?" he asked, looking insulted as Shiro was also confused about the woman's information about himself and his friend.

"She's... our liaison, and also the one made this tea for all of you. She told me to say it was from, _The Healer_?" he informed them unsurely, making them all gasp, eyes widened looking at the tea in reverence now.

" ** _The Healer_**? She is here as well? _Alive_?" he asked, looking very shocked and happy as Pidge and Shiro looked at each other in confusion. "Yes?" Pidge answered as the aliens visibly relaxed. "This is wonderful! **_The Healer_** and **_The Champion_**! Together in one place again! Zarkon surely stands no chance now." He mused looking excited as the others started to whisper franticly to one another, before Shiro spoke up.

"Hold on! What are you talking about? Was Miss Devine with you too?" He asked, wondering if that was where the woman got her scars. A cold chill running threw his body as he thought of the empath being anywhere near a Galra prison, let alone forced into a cell, to feel all the negative emotions from the other prisoners and Galra.

"She was a druid. One that would infrequently venture into the prisons, healing a few captives behind the back of the Galra guards, able to make the sentries do her bidding with a wave of a hand. She was searching for something, or rather... searching for you, Champion." The alien informed, looking up at the shocked paladin.

"What makes you say that?" Pidge asked, curious as the alien drank some of the pink tea slowly before answering, a small smile on his lips. "At first it seemed like a delusion. Druids in the prisons are not normally a good sign... this one however, was healing a few, very lucky captives for what seemed to be once a phoeb. It wasn't until after you defeated Myzax, that she started to appear for every one of your matches. Healing your every wound until-" the alien stopped, looked at Shiro's right arm.

"Until I lost my arm." He concluded, clenched his prosthetic fist that felt like his own limb, but wasn't at the same time. The gray alien nodded seriously. "Yes... Sshe could only stop you from bleeding out in the arena, even cutting off the arm of the Galra commander who took it from you. Before Zarkon himself intervened..." He told them, Shiro shivering from the feeling of absolute terror spreading threw out his body at the emperor's name. A blurry image of something glowing a familiar bright white and purple above him came to mind, leaving him more confused about the history he had with the woman.

"After my brother was injured, where was he taken?" Pidge asked hopefully, trying to get information about her missing sibling, but the alien was quiet for a moment, giving the green paladin a sympathetic frown. "I know not..." he confessed as Shiro realized something.

"That ship we were held captive on. It crash landed on this planet, it should have logs of prisoners, some information about Matt and Commander Holt." Shiro reasoned as he felt himself become even colder, walking out of the infirmary briskly to find the ship wreckage. "Wait! I'm coming with you!" Pridge cried out and followed him out of the room as the group of aliens drank their tea, softly discussing their uncertain future.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Stop your pouting Keith. It wouldn't hurt you to become a bit more diplomatic." Devine hinted as she was inside Ruby with him, Allura having decided to take three of the five the lions to meet with the Arusians as soon as possible and to show them the Lions up close. Allura and Coran where with Hunk inside Topaz, and Lance lagged a bit behind pouting about being by himself with Sapphire.

"I'm not pouting." Keith corrected, looking annoyed as Kylzap was staring at him oddly, irritating the teen. "What?" he snapped, looking down at the Arusian who blinked at him in confusion. "You are one with this beast?" he asked as Keith raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" the red paladin answered unsurely as he heard Ruby growl at being called a beast.

"She likes to be called Ruby, but I like Red better." Keith told him as he felt Ruby purr and then Devine touched his shoulder, giggling. _'I love both names, my Paladin~. I want to keep them~.'_ Keith heard Ruby whine as he looked at Devine before down at the Arusian village where they landed half a mile away to avoid blowing away any huts.

Once in the village the where greeted happily by many of the cute little Arusians before the king stepped forward, all of them looking very happy. "Oh! Great and beautiful Lion Goddess, I am the King of the Arusians. We are both grateful and honored to have you grace our village with your blessings. Please accept our new _Dance of Divinity_ your divine Harold has taught our young dancers!" the King announced happily as he clapped his hands, signaling for three young Arusians to approach, each holding a stick with some ribbon attached to the end. Devine blinked in surprise but smiled as the familiar Arusian girl waved happily at her. The music started and the three started the dance, all while feeling the confused stares of team Voltron.

" _Hoorah!"_ The Arusians cheered as the drummers started with a powerful rhythm as the girls threw the multi colored ribbons into the air before catching them and making the ribbons flutter in circles above their heads, then to their right, before jumping threw them and spinning them on the opposite side as they tried to balance on one foot. Devine noticed the malice form one of the other dancers as the stick from her ribbon smacked the other girl in the face. "Ouch!" she cried out before falling to the ground, dropping her ribbon that made the villagers gasp in horror.

"Moontow, are you alright?" Devine asked as she approached the little girl who trembled in fear as she looked up at the older woman. Tears in her eyes as the king frowned at her mistake. "Please, there's no need for this." Allura tried to be modest and friendly, and not be worshiped by the primitive beings, the king nodded solemnly as Devine sparked yellow from what would come next, kneeling down to let the Arusian cling to her.

"The Goddess has been displeased. Start the sacrificial fire, we must throw ourselves in!" The king shouted before pointing at Moontow who clung to Devine tightly. "Starting with the ruiner Moontow!" Allara eyes widen in shock as the Arusian's lit a large fire, Mootow clung to Devine for dear life as she cried loudly.

" ** _NO! No Sacrifices!"_** Allura and Devine yelled out as the older woman hugged the crying Arusian protectively, growling at the king for even suggesting it, before delivering the excuse she had come up with for this moment.

"What the goddess means is that, your happiness and wellbeing are her greatest joy. The Dance of Divinity is not meant to be performed perfectly by mere, mortal children." Devine explained, as the king narrowed his eyes at her, but the other arusians seemed to understand that reasoning, putting out the sacrificial fire.

"Then will the Divine herald proceed with the dance?" the king asked, Moontow was confused as she heard Devine's heart beat loudly in her chest before the sighed nervously. "O-of course. I would be delighted to." Devine swallowed down her fear and embarrassment, the made-up ribbon dance she did one night was coming back to haunt her.

"Yes, that's a much better alternative." Allura agreed as she looked at Devine who pulled out a longer stick with a ribbon attached to it, looking nervous as yellow sparked across her body.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly let it out as she walked to the area they had cleared for the dancers, stepping back a bit as Devine was a bit taller than three Arusan children. The drummers started up again as Devine twirled the stick; the ribbion that looked white at first was actually shimmering with color in the sun light. Like the children before her she twirled the ribbon it a circle before gracefully jumping threw it, switching the stick to her other hand and spinning it in a circle only it took on one color... lavender.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Hunk asked as Devine twirled the ribbon over her head as she twirled on one foot like a ballerina, the tip of the ribbon igniting with lavender fire, making everyone gasp a she incased herself in a fiery cone before making a series of quick spins and jumps that had everyone staring in awe.

"How does her hair not catch fire?" Lance noticed as the flames had licked at her white locks but didn't burn them before Devine grabbed the tip of the stick between two fingers before sliding them over the still burning ribbon, transferring the fire to her hand, but it didn't seem to hurt her skin either. Cupping the fire in both hands tenderly, she brought it to her lips as she gave the flickering purple flames a gentle blow as they grew before turning into lavender sparkles that filled the air before she tossed the rest in the air freely before giving a deep bow, the Arusian's following suit.

"O-oh, my! Please, please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship." Allura strutted, an over whelming feeling coursing through her body she wasn't familiar with. "I accidentally put you all in danger, I should be apologizing, not be worshiped. I am Princess Allura and these are the Paladins of Voltron. Although we originally came from different worlds...and have very, very, very different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as friends." The princess tried to reason; nervous without her father there to guide her threw the diplomatic talks.

"But the Robotic Angel... and the Divine herald are they not signs of your godliness? Of your blessing and wrath?" The king asked, pretending to be confused, Devine becoming slightly irritated with the princess confusing the Arsuains even more.

"Voltron? No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you." The princess explained, as she felt more confident suddenly. "Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!" Allura announced in a proud and hopeful tone, the Arusian's cheered, welcoming their new protectors with open arms and hugs. Devine smiled as they were practically covered in arusians hugs. Moontow hugged her happily this time, along with three other smaller Aruains that seemed too young to know about Moontow and her brother.

Giving a soft chuckle Devine hugged them back, the little arusians giggling from the pink sparks she admitted, positive emotions feeling wonderful... but there was still one dark little cloud among all the sunshine.

"Is something wrong Keith?" She asked worriedly, looking up at red paladin who was just watching the hug fest nervously, yet it seem a part of him wanted to be included.

"I... just don't hug strangers." He admitted to her, looking away before she smiled and detached the little arusians from herself reluctantly. Walking over to the sulking Paladin before wrapping her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. Keith blushed bright red at sudden hug as he felt the woman's large assets pressing into him with a strange warmth and softness.

"W-what are you doing?" Keith asked nervously, becoming afraid to move as he saw her smile from the corner of his eye, resting her chin over his right shoulder with little difficulty as they were the same height. "You said you don't hug strangers, but I'm not a stranger to you right?" she mused with a smirk as Keith was approached by Moontow and the three little ones.

"Hello Mr. Red Lion tamer. I am Moontow, and these are Uno, Dos, and Cuatro. Does that mean we can hug you too?" Moontow asked excitedly as the paladin looked confused. "Well they're not strangers anymore, right?" Devine mussed as Keith looked unsure of being hugged by more ' _strangers'_ but he didn't get to respond as the Arusians happy hug him anyway.

"Um? Wow... you guys sure are cuddly." Keith noticed as he placed a hand awkwardly on the small Arusian's head, a bit of joy bursting from its body. "Thank you." The Arusian voice was deep like a male, making Keith's eyes widen in unexpected shock. Devine couldn't help but chuckle at the young paladin's confusion and enjoyment of so many hugs.

Only her mirth vanish as a dark chill ran through her scenes like a sharp blade.

' _Corrupted quintessence.'_ She thought fearfully as she looked up into the sky... dread washing over her as the Robeast coffin entered the atmosphere.

"Miss Devine?" Keith called to her, confused as he felt her hold on him tighten after hearing her voice in his mind, his eyes looking up into the sky in worry. "What is that?" He asked her but Shiro's voice came over on their com links.

 _" **Team come in! We need backup now!**_ **"**

"What's going on?" Keith asked worriedly Devine being close enough to hear the older Paladin's voice from his com but a loud rumbling sound and shaking ground answered his question.

"Myzax?" Devine questioned, slightly hoping it was Shiro's first opponent and not some other ro-beast Haggar had created instead.

"Oh no. We've got to get back to our lions!" Keith shouted as he broke away from Devine's hug as the Arusian's started to panic. "Everyone get inside and stay down!" Allura directed as she and Coran herded the Arusians into a safer area.

"I'm on it!" Hunk yelled as he joined the evacuation only for Devine to step in front of him, with a disapproving look. "Hunk. Get into Topaz, Voltron is needed again." She told him as he looked scared, only for Keith to grab the collar of his yellow paladin armor, making Hunk cry tears of fear and frustration.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she helplessly watched Votron getting pummeled by the ro-beast. Allura, Coran, and the whole village of Arusians where in the caves on the outskirts of the village. Their fear not helping the empath's concentration as she tried to give them some calm, but the vast amount of corrupted quintessence being so close made it painful.

"Shiro, please remember..." she pled, watching Voltron nearly destroy the village in its fall before narrowly avoiding that situation. "You can do this... just remember." She pleaded, pressing a hand over her hammering heart, unaware of the crystals on her back glowing threw her shirt. A few Arusians looked at her in aww and confusion at the glowing wing like pattern, Coran and Allura to occupied by the Arusian's king to pay it any attention to her.

"You've beaten him before, you can do it again. _Please_ remember..." she pleaded, closing her eyes as she tried to reach out to Shiro threw Obsidian. Only to get a vision of the orb heading right for her face and hit her on the chin.

 _"AGH!"_ Devine cried out in surprise as she found herself on the cave floor with dozens of worried Arusians gathered around her. "Are you alright Devine Herald?" Kylzap asked looking at her worriedly, his sister holding her doll to her chest behind him. "Y-yeah, just lost balance there for a bit." She assured him, slowly sitting up as she looked at the entrance, no longer able to see Voltron or the ro-beast.

"Shiro, _please remember_." She pleaded as her ember eyes glowed in the dark cave along with the crystals on her back.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

' _... please remember'_ Shiro heard Devine's voice in his head, telling him to remember something, but he didn't know what he needed to remember only seeing clear a vision from his dream, the sound from the orb triggering something in his memory.

"That sound...I-i _remember_ this monster, from Zarkon's prison. I know how to beat him!" Shiro realized feeling his lion purr softly, dogged the incoming attack just in time. "Listen! There's a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, that orb needs to charge up. That's this monster's weak point and our time to strike." He informed his team with determination.

"Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?" Hunk asked nervously as they watched the orb charge up. "Defense!" Shiro shouted as the orb headed towards Voltron again. "Pidge, we need that shield!" He yelled as Voltron lifting his left arm in time to deflect the orb, everyone groaned at the force behind it, the orb returning to the ro-beast before rounding back at them.

"That's one. Two more to go!" Shiro shouted with determination, slowly remembering his fight with Myzax, but he was also seeing another's memories. Seeing himself fighting Myzax in the arena from a far, but not from the stands.

The orb came at them again and smashed into the shield, Voltron skidded across the ground from the force. "We can't take much more!" Hunk yelled as Votron shook around them and the orb rebounded against the shield for a second time. "Last one! Everyone brace for impact!" Shiro warned, the orb hit the shield for a third time, causing it to break apart. Voltron kneeling as the two parts of the shields landed at its sides, the orb returned to _recharge_.

"Now!" Shiro yelled as the Red Lion arm was thrust forward to a powerful laser blast, hitting the monster directly in the chest, creating a large dust cloud around it. Seeming defeated but as the smoke cleared, the monster stood back up seemingly unharmed by the attack.

"It didn't work!" Pidge cried out in dread as the other Paladians started to become fearful. "So now what?" Lance asked nervously as the newly charged orb hit Voltron, making the robot fall into its back. Shiro got the image of himself being pushed back, desperately gripping something that looked like a sword, a phantom pain shooting threw his right arm and going up to his shoulder blade.

"When I attacked it before, I had a sword." Shiro told them, suppressing the sudden pain before Hunk shouted urgently.

"Orb! Orb!"

He warned, but it was too late. Voltron was slammed into the dirt by the orb once again before it returned to the robot ready to strike again. "We can't take another shot like that!" Pidge informed them. Keith felt a strange warm sensation flow threw his body into his right arm, as the Bayard slot opened in front of him. "Guys! I think my lion's telling me what to do." He told them, remembering what happened with Devine.

"Well whatever it is, better do it fast! He's about to fire his third shot." Lance exclaimed as the orb came back, Voltron put up its arms to block to take the hit but was knocked over the small mountains, jolting the paladins inside.

Voltron slowly stood back up as the Robeast charged at them, leaping into the air with the orb ready to finish them off. Keith slammed his Bayard into the console and turned, a warm feeling flowing through each Paladin's right arm.

Ruby and Peridot's heads slammed together as a light shined between their fangs. Ruby unsheathing a sword sliver and lavender blade form Peridot's mouth. Then in one quick movement, the blade sliced through the robeast as it was still in midair, within a flash the robeast landed behind Voltron, sparking dark purple along where it had been cut before exploding form the fatal blow.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"YES! VOLTRON SAVES THE DAY AGAIN!" Devine shouted suddenly, raising a fist into the air in excitement. The Arusians looked at her in startled confusion, before hearing the distant explosion, turning to see smoke from a distance, and Voltron standing victoriously as they gasped in amazement.

Allura and Coran looked at her and the each other in a silent conversation, looking confused and worried about what they were seeing on the woman's back.

A glowing white emblem of Voltron.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Here are the coordinates to a nearby refugee camp where you'll be safe. From there they should be able help you find your families." Devine smiled at the gray alien who looked at her in reverence, she could also feel the other's giving off positive emotions upon finally meeting her without the druid disguise. The empath couldn't help but greedily drink the emotions in as she handed over the coordinates to a well-hidden refugee camp. She tried to keep such information to help reunite families, help out a few rebels, and put the _irrelevant_ data the Blade of Marmora collected to good use.

"Thank you, _Healer_. We cannot even begin to repay your kindness." He said with a smile bowing low to her and the others who allowed her to speak with them.

"Please, just get back to your loved ones safely. I'm sure your wife and children will be more than happy to have you back Mr. Xi." She mentioned with a smirk, seeing the gray Alien, Xi, looking at her with open mouth shock as the other's gasped loudly as she addressed Xi by name.

"I- i... am a father?" he questioned as the others seemed excited at the news. "Is it a boy, or maybe a girl?" he asked nervously, looking Devine in the eyes for the answer, the empath only smiled, putting a finger to her lips and winking mischievously.

" _No spoilers~,_ you will just have to see for yourself Mr. Xi." she teased as he laughed softly, happy tears coming to his eyes.

"Thank you, for everything. We never dreamed we'd see our families again... but you gave us all hope. You gave the universe hope." He said before boarding the Altean escape pod that was more like a small ship.

The others walked away after the ship left the Castel walls, but Devine watched the pod until it left the atmosphere standing outside with her back pressed into the castle's exterior as she looked up, thinking about Xi words taking a deep breath, raising her right fist to the stars.

" _In fearful day, in raging night._

 _With strong hearts full, our souls ignite._

 _When all seems lost in the war of light._

 _Look to the stars, for hope burns bright."_

Devine recited the Blue Lantern oath by heart, softly laughing as she felt nothing but clam wash over her from reciting the familiar pledge. It had helped her threw her pervious life a few times, resonating with her more than the Green Lanterns oath about the power of Will. There was another Lantern oath that spoke to her... but it was a part of her she hoped to never show the Paladins or the Alteans.

Reaching out to them carefully, she could feel that Shiro was with Pidge, possibly telling her what really happened with Matt. She felt relief flooding threw the two of them. Devine slowly breathed out a blue mist, laying down on the ground to watch the unfamiliar stars for a few more moments.

* * *

A.N.: I am I a dork/nerd for knowing the blue lantern oath? Sure the green lanterns got the literal power of **_Will_** but I have always been more fond of **_Hope_** , then again Blue is one of my favorite colors. Finished watching Voltron Season 6 and I am so shook by some of it. Gave me a few more interesting ideas but they will not effect where I intended to take this story.


	5. Mini Chapter: Dream or Reality?

**_Mini Chapter 1, Dream or Reality?_**

 ** _~Devine's Dreamscape~_**

"Where am I?" Devine questioned in a stupor, looking down at the teal colored grass around her. Her vision slowly adjusting to allow her to look past the waist high grass. Several large animals moving in the grass towards her, one faster the then others shot at her in a red blur.

"AGH!" Devine screamed in shock, falling back into the soft grass, her vision was taken over by red fur and a soft pink tongue that ran up from her chin to her hair line several times. "Cut it out. Come on. Stop it." She laughed slightly as the lion only licked her once more before being nudged off the young woman

Wiping away the feeling of warm lion saliva from her face, she slowly sat up, her ember eyes opening to see two familiar looking female lions, one with a fiery red coat and the other with an abyss black coat.

"Ruby?" she questioned as she looked at the rather smallish red lioness whom seemed to be smirking as she sat to the right of a massive black lioness. "Obsidian?" Devine questioned as she felt small from having to look up at her as she sat with them. The lioness let out a low purr as she slowly came towards her, closing her own golden eyes before pressing her furry forehead to the young woman's.

Devine slowly closed her eyes and nuzzled the lioness, a little confused by the lack of a mane on the leader of the Voltron pride. "Lioness do all the work, my cub~." Obsidian mussed in a strange yet oddly familiar voice that startled Devine.

"O-obsidan? Is-was that your?" she asked, pulling back from the lioness to get a better look at her massive form. Only to have her attention be pulled away by a warm, wet nose pressing into her left cheek.

"Sapphire?" Devine questioned as she looked to her left. A blue lioness gave her face a single lick of affection before pressing their foreheads together. "It is good to see you again, our little Cub~." She purred, also using a female voice Devine didn't recognize at first. "How are? Why am I?" Devine tried to question but something furry was nudging her right elbow, her eyes spied a small green lioness, looking illegally cute as she gave an audible mew.

"Peridot! So cute~!" she gushed as she wrapped her arms around Peridot's neck, hugging the lioness before pulling away with a big smile, Peridot bumped her forehead into Devine's. "Your very cute yourself, our little cub." she purred in her own voice, as Devine pat her green fur, seeing leaf and vine like patterns in other shades of green on her fur.

"Agh!" Devine cried out in surprise as another nose poked her, this time it was on the bare skin of her neck.

"Topaz! Aww~ come 'ere hun~." She smiled, seeing the yellow lioness looking a little sad, pressing their foreheads together. "We missed you, our precious cub." She purred, confusing Devine as she gently scratched under the lioness's chin, making her purr in happiness. "Are you guys really in my dreams? Or... is this just my own mind making it up?" she asked with a sad smile. The warmth, the fur, and the kinship she was feeling from each of them felt so real, she wanted it to be real and not just her subconscious trying to cope with the mess she had gotten into.

"We are as real as you are my little cub." Obsidian mussed, making Devine smile sadly in disappointment.

"So... it is all in my head then?" she asked, looking at the forms her mind gave the five Voltron lions, resembling an artist's rendition of them from her old world.

The black Lioness was easily the largest of them all, primarily black with a white under coat, a golden V on her chest and coloring her ears as streaks of red where just above her nose, over her head and two down her back. The Red and Green Lioness where easily the smallest, with their fur being their own colors, red and green, with a white under coat with some black in between the two colors. The Blue and Yellow Lioness where both about the normal size for an Earth lioness, their primary colors being blue and yellow with white undercoats as well, the blue lioness having a single mark of red on her forehead.

"So, where are we?" she asked the black lioness, looking up at the sky to so see unfamiliar stars and planets that where nowhere near each other or even existed anymore.

A lively Altea and Daibazaal hanging in the sky with the Earth and its singular little moon. A heavy pain priced her heart as she looked at them, her vision blurring with tears flowing over her cheeks with a feeling of longing for the three planets. The lions to come closer to the crying female, like a warm hug full of a foreign emotion that Devine couldn't recall ever feeling before.

"It's love, my little cub." Obsidian informed her, but Devine let out a short, bitter laugh as she shook fearfully.

" ** _Love_**? I'm not worthy of it. No one **_loves_** me... no one **_loves_** an _unfeeling monster_ in any sane reality." Devine corrected the lions, a strange emotion mixed with panic spread among the large cats. The black lioness licking at her tears in for comfort.

"You are worthy my little cub, and you will forever be _loved_. By us and your **_soul mate_**." She purred, trying to comfort the crying woman who only laughed loudly at the words. The pride of lionesses looked at her worriedly, Devine curling in on herself with fear as she laughed manically falling into the teal grass with a steady flow of tears.

"There is no such thing as _soul mates_! That's just some cheap romance novel _bullshit_! A lie fed to everyone into thinking they're not alone when they really are! **_Especially me_**!" she cried hysterically as she felt the lions come closer, their warm furry bodies encasing her with that strange emotion before she felt herself become... small and furry.

" _Mew~_?" Devine cried in confusion, startled by the sound that came from her mouth, or rather her maw. She looked down her elongated mouth, at white fur and a small black nose at the tip, her furry ears twitching as she heard amused chuckles from the lion pride.

"What!? What just happened!?" she asked, confused as she had to look almost striate up at the lioness, now being about a quarter of Obsidian's massive size, yet half the size of the red and green female lions. "Let me show you, my little cub." Obsidian purred, grabbing Devine by her jacket, or scruff, as she could feel the warmth of the lioness' mouth, her skin being pulled back by a set of fangs carefully as she was carried threw the strange grass.

An oasis of water that reflected the three planets above appeared from the parting teal grass. The black lioness set her down at its edge made of soft orange sand, Devine struggled a little as she could not walk upright, quickly adapting to her new furry paws that also had lavender stripes. Confused, she curiously investigated the water at her reflection. A white furred cub looked blinked at her, golden eyes wide with shock and amazement, lavender stripes decorated her furry white body that made her look like a magical tiger cub only... she had a tuff of purple fur at the tip of her slender tail, an ethereal mane that took on a rainbow of colors, gently waving in a nonexistent wind.

"I'm... a lion?" she questioned, dunking her head into the water before looking again, ripples only distorting the reflection of the wet, rainbow mane around her head. "but I have stripes? I... I couldn't be... A **_LIGER_**?" she asked, feeling a bit more excited as her tail waved in the air. The Lions smiled fondly at her, watching as Devine walked around in a circle to look at the rest of her body in disbelief.

"How can I- oh, right... it's... just a _dream_." She mused dejectedly before she looked up at the larger lions with a sad smile. "I look like you guys now." She chirped playfully before the yellow lioness was the first to approach her and lovingly lick the liger cubs head.

"Hey! Stop it, Topaz." She asked as she batted the lioness on the nose with her new paws, only to be licked more.

"You only _look_ like us my little cub, but soon... you will also _smell_ like us too." Obsidian teased as the other lions started to bathe Devine in their scent, making her squirm and giggle at the feeling of their tongues running over her fur, while filling her up with the strange emotion of **_Love_** , making her relax and purr into the wonderful feeling before she froze, feeling the black lioness lick her head once. Devine tried to look up at the pride leader, only to fall backwards with all four paws dangling in the air, blinking her golden eyes cutely at the lioness, Obsidian smiled down at the cub as they touched foreheads again.

"You will always be loved by us, my little cub." She purred happily as she licked the cub's throat as Devine submitted and accepted the warm feelings she felt in her most pleasant dream she had in a long time. "Never forget that." the black lioness affirmed as she nuzzled the cub lovingly as a white paw reached up and poked her nose playfully, making her smile softly.

 ** _~Shiro's Dreamscape~_**

Shiro didn't know what was going on as he looked up at a star filled sky, three unfamiliar planets floating in the sky alongside Earth and her moon. His half-closed eyes catching something furry and white, just outside his peripheral vision, then something black and purple waved into his site, brushing across the scar on his nose with a light touch. There was something nipping at his right ear, purring softly and something rather light walking on top of his chest, what looked like a black and purple fluffy tail waved into his vision as something small and warm curled up on his chest, rumbling softly.

Raising his right hand slowly, Shiro reached for the thing nipping at his ear. Feeling soft, silky fur before a small cold nose pressed into his cheek, giving a soft mew. Closing his eyes with a soft smile, relaxing and breathing in the warm air around him, a familiar sweet and tangy taste washing over his tongue. recalling a faint memory of it's source.

 ** _~Castel of Lions, Lion Hangers~_**

Inside their own hangers the lion's eyes glowed, softly purring as the residences of the castle slept. Being treated to peaceful and happy dreams, the lions standing guard over their minds and the castle.

* * *

A.N.: Just a short little something, edited a bit more to my liking. Slowly editing the chapters and hammering out some details for future chapters since season 6 had me shook, along with DreamWorks posting 'Shiro's' Vlog on youtube.


	6. Chapter 5, Party Crashers

**_Dark Abyss_**

The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders!

 ** _WARRING!: Mentions of underage drinking, delusions, and implied murder._**

 _Please drink responsibly **.**_

* * *

 ** _~Chapter 5, Party Crashers~_**

' _Should I Fight or Hide?'_ Devine questioned worriedly as she was in the kitchen with Coran _supervising_ , watching her make the appetizers for the last minute party to thank the Arusians, the same party that allowed Sendak and his lackey to take over the Castel.

' _There's no way I can fight Sendak on my own, and Lance...' she_ thought about the flirty paladin getting hurt in the drone blast to the Castel's crystal, biting her lip as she prepared the strange foods for the floating trays. _'But, if I stop them from blowing up the crystal then Hunk wouldn't meet Shay, and she's his spark of inspiration.'_ She thought worriedly about the Balmerian and her race, forced underground to mine the crystals from the Balmera that is their home for untold amount of generations.

' _And Katie...'_ she thought of the green Paladin looking for her brother and father. While both where fine, neither Holt had any real way of phoning home, their original 2-month mission to collect ice samples from Kerberos was extended and changed to fighting against a massive empire. _'Could I even call Earth? Let alone the Galaxy Garrison? Maybe having Dr. Holt present would help with my credibility? Then again, the way they treated Shiro was sort of odd.'_ she speculated, handing a tray of drinks to the air before Coran quickly grabbed it before it fell to far.

"Everything alright, Miss Devine?" Coran asked nervously, yellow sparks coming off the woman as she had nearly dropped a tray into midair. "Y-yeah... the appetizers and drinks are finished but..."

"Yes?" the orange looked at her curiously, watching worriedly when she drew blood from her lip. "Could... how far can the castle's communications reach?" she asked before he placed a hand on her in a fatherly like way. "Who do you need to call? I'm sure I could get you in touch with them. Just tell me what star system and planet and I can make it happen. " He tried to cheer her up as she seemed comforted by his words.

"Actually, it's for the Paladins. They've been feeling very home sick, and their parents must be worried about them. Especially since their disappearance was so sudden and unexpected. They must think something horrible happened to their children by now if they keep in regular touch." Devine asked, feeling the phantom pain of a mother having her child had disappear when they weren't looking.

Coran saw the yellow and pink lighting, confused by their appearance but nodded solemnly. "Of course, I'll give it my best. Given how far their planet is, and interferences with the signal. I should have something in a few varga." He told her proudly as she gave a soft smile.

"Thanks Coran."

"Not a problem. I'm happy to help Miss Devine. Say, how would you like to try some Nunvill? On Altea it was considered _The Nectar of The Gods~."_ The older Altean tempted strangely as Devine was a bit suspicious of his eagerness.

"Sure. I'll give it a shot." She agreed easily, watching the mustached Altean intently as he approach the portion of kitchen wall that was locked. Punching in a code on a hidden key pad, the wall slid away to present four rows of filled with bottles of seemingly clear liquid, and one row of bottles filled with red liquid, each row holding what seemed to be a dozen bottles for a total of 60 bottles. Devine was tempted to teach Coran an old drinking song before he took one of the clear bottles from the shelf and two glasses before it locked back up. The orange Altean pouring them both a glass, offering her one that she took with a bit of caution.

"To the Paladins, Cheers!" Coran raised his glass, gently to clink their glasses together before taking a drink or pretending too, he opened one eye to peek at the young woman while keeping his lips closed. Devine inspecting the drink carefully, swirling it around in the glass made it look like normal water, giving it a sniff however she could smell some strange scents that where rather nutty, before bringing it up to her lips, parting them slightly for the so called _'Nectar of the Gods'_ to wash over her taste buds smoothly.

"Hmm..." Devine swirled it around in her mouth, tasting something like roasted almonds, Juniberries, and something like cherry or maple wood. Letting the strange liquid pass from her mouth as she finally drank it, seeing Coran grinning expectantly, an emotion of nostalgia coming from the old Altean. "Well? What do you think? Good enough to serve the Arusians right?" he asked as Devine felt a familiar feeling warming her up as she smiled, nodding in agreement.

"It's a nice vintage as well. Can't get any better than over 10,000 years can it?" she asked in amusement, giggling at the warm feeling spreading threw out her body.

' _Eeyup~ it's definitely wine.'_ She thought before enjoying the rest of the glass... and bottle.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"The monster fell from the heavens! It was an epic battle, but Voltron was ultimately victorious!" The King of the Arusians narrated the little play his subjects where putting on in the castle's grand foyer, atop the grand stair case, a stack of five Arusians fell to the ground, opposite of the two Arusians playing the monster that playfully threw an empty juice pouch at them to simulate an attack, but their king was not pleased.

"No. I said, **'** ** _Voltron_** _was victorious_!'" The king repeated as he glared at his fallen subjects' blunder before they quickly stacked back up and the two Arusians playing the monster fell to the ground. The present Arusians cheered with their glasses raised in praise of the performance. Devine giggled quietly, finding it as cute as a play put on by elementary school children. Taking a sip from her seventh glass of Nunvil, drowning out Allura's speech about their alliance, it was unneeded as the Arusians had little to offer them aside from minor support, friendship, and great cuddles. Not to mention how under prepared they are to fight anything more than some ailments that commonly plagued their species. It would take a while to train and prep them to even defend themselves, especially with how their _king_ controlled his people.

"Hoorah!" Arusian King cheered along with his people who cheered with happiness while thrusting their cups in the air once again. Making Devine blink as she saw purple liquid in the glasses the Arusians held. Only Lance, Coran, and herself held the non-transparent cups, curious about the difference she walked over to the young Paladins, over hearing their little conversation.

"Yeah, okay. How about, uh... When I say _'Vol'_ and you say, _'Tron'_. **_Vol_**!" Lance smirked proudly at his idea of a team cheer, waiting for Hunk and/or Keith to join in. Only to get silence from his friend as Keith just looked adorably confused.

"Ah?...Vol-tron?" Keith spoke up in confusion, clearly not getting the point of the single syllable cheer with simple instructions.

"No! no, no, no. The cheer includes the instructions. I say ' _Vol_ ' and you say..." Lance corrected or tried to, waiting for someone to say ' _Tron_ ' to complete the cheer.

" _Tron_ ~." Devine cheered, deciding to amuse the blue Paladin whose eyes sparkled with joy.

"See! Miss Devine gets it. When I say _Vol_ you say!" he shouted loudly with joy, holding up his glass to toast their new cheer.

"Tron~!" Devine cheered a little louder as she gently bumped her glass with Lance's before taking a drink from their glasses. Devine having no problem with the taste, appreciating subtle notes of aged wine while Lance cringed as it hit his inexperienced taste buds, choking down the strong alcoholic beverage. Keith and Hunk looked at him in confusion before Lance spotted Coran for questioning, Devine giggling in amusement as she sparked white.

"Ugh, Coran, what is this?" Lance asked angrily, showing the male Altean his empty glass as Coran was nursing his first glass. "Oh, it's Nunvil, _The Nectar of The Gods_. Good isn't it?" He answered the young paladin sagely, unaware of a Human perception of the drink. "Tastes like hot dog water and feet." Lance replied, in disgust as Devine snorted in amusement at Coran's shocked expression, placing her empty glass on a floating tray before taking the blue paladin's cup.

"Maybe you should stick with the Juniberry juice sweetie. Leave the alcohol to the adults." She told the young man before hiccupping, a small flame coming from her mouth as she felt overly warm in her trusty jacket. "Wait? I just had my first sip of Alcohol!?" Lance asked, paling rapidly in fear before covering his mouth, looking like he was going to throw up. Devine picked up a juice floating by with some rambunctious Arusian children swinging form it, handing it to Hunk who looked worriedly at his friend.

"Have him drink this and eat something, he'll need to stay hydrated to lessen his first hangover." She informed him as Keith gently poked his comrade only for Lance to fall to the floor. "And how many have you had, Miss Devine?" Coran asked her with a raised eye brow, noticing her skin taking on a more reddish tint. "Enough, I'll be fine Coran. I know my limits and I could use some fresh air. It's getting a little too hot in here for me." She told him, while the Nunvil dulled her ability to feel the excitement of so many beings, it was still an over whelming situation.

Heading towards the grand entry way for cooler temperatures where she spotted Shiro, watching the natives come in and out of the castle easily. His back to her and unaware of her silent approach from behind. Levitating onto the air with a playful smirk, she carefully invaded his personal space, floating just high enough for her lips to come close to his ear.

" _What cha doin'_?" she asked innocently.

The Voltron leader jumped in surprise before twirling around to look at her, his right fist raised and ready to attack, before he understood that there was no danger. Shiro let out a sigh of relief at seeing it was only Devine slightly glowing white from all the excitement. "Miss Devine, please don't do that." He groaned with a slight frown, touching the ear she had spoken into with a light pink blush dusting his cheeks. Devine grinned naughtily at the reaction that left her wanting to, _play_ with the black paladin a little.

"Sorry~. I just wonderin' what's keepin' a _handsome_ _fella_ ~ like you, over here all by his _lonesome_ ~?" she asked, her Texas accent slipping into her words. Devine running two fingers lightly across one of the carotid arteries in his neck, feeling his steady pulse as her fingers slowly traveling up to his jaw. Feeling his pulse quicken under her fingers as she to a step even closer, making gray eyes widen and his blush deepen before he took a step back to collect himself.

"J-just watching the entrance." Shiro voiced unsurely, looking away from the woman who was acting a little... odd. "I don't think it's good idea to just let everyone wander in and out of the castle like this. It... doesn't seem safe." Shiro answered worriedly, making Devine giggle as she noticed his _Space_ _Dad_ side showing, finding it adorable.

"I agree, but this isn't our castle. _Fish Bait_ up there-" Devine motioned to Allura, up on the balcony overlooking the party. "-is the one who wants the smell of Juniberries to fill the castle before we leave. Thanking the Arusians is really more of an excuse to leave the doors open." She mentioned, taking a deep breath to take in the scent of Altean flowers coming in with the fresh crisp air.

Shiro was surprised by her odd, and almost insulting, nickname for the Altean princess. Yet the woman didn't seem to intend it as an insult. Then he noticed the fresh, flowery scent coming in with a slight breeze blowing into the castle.

"Is that what that smell is?" he asked, started when Devine pressed herself heavily into his left side, feeling her heat strangely easily threw his suit.

"Eeyup~. The Arusians are so _excited_ about finally being able to see the inside of the castle. Serving them 10,000-year-old Nunvil might have been a mistake." She explained before wincing at the sudden sound of several glasses breaking, sidetracking Coran from ' _spying'_ on the two young adults as he left them alone to quickly take care of it.

"I get it, but Zarkon could strike at any minute. We need to be alert for anything. I'm going to do a perimeter check, just to be sure." Shiro explained as he moved to walk out, feeling Devine shift off his side for a moment. He only made it a few steps way before hearing a rather audible _thud_ of a body hitting the floor behind him.

"Miss Devine?" Shiro looked back in confusion, seeing the woman her lying on the ground, dazed as she slowly sat up. "Are you alright?" the paladin asked worriedly, holding out his prosthetic hand to help her up, but she didn't take it, getting up from the floor on her own. Devine's face glowing red as her eyes struggled to focus.

"I'm fine just-" The woman started to say before she lost her balance again, Shiro grabbing her upper arms firmly to keep her from hitting the floor again, feeling her flinch when his right hand touched her. "Agh~, I didn't think Nunvill would be that strong." She mentioned, hiccupping another little fire ball from her mouth, shocking the black paladin.

"How much did you drink?" Shiro asked, concerned for the woman who leaned on his chest as she looked at him with clouded and unforced golden eyes. "Enough to keep me from becoming a second sun from all this excitement." She answered truthfully, slowly closing her eyes as she shifted her weight off him, making the paladin question her alcohol tolerance. Shiro had suspected the innocent looking liquid was alcoholic from the first sip, before downing the whole glass Coran had offered him, but he was still able to keep a clear, calm mind.

" _Whew~,_ I could use some air." She mentioned before regaining her balance. Shiro took his hands off her as he blushed pink, watching Devine slip off her jacket with almost deliberate slowness, exposing more of her skin as her womanly assets stretched the fabric of the purple tank top, tying the jacket's sleeves around her waist. The top was pulled taught over her chest as the sleeves pulled back the access fabric before screeching over her hips, and it also exposed four jagged white stripes that marred her the skin of her upper arms. At first, Shiro thought there were more Altean markings, but their edges where jagged and looked like her skin had been ripped open several times, before new skin could scab over it.

"That's much better." Devine mussed happily, giving off a strange red mist.

' _What does red mean?'_ Shiro questioned before he felt her his right hand being grabbed, the fingers of his Galra arm becoming interlaced with her warm, yet strangely rough skin of her hand. It was even more surprising he could even feel it threw the prosthetic arm! Was that possible?

"How about we go out?" she suddenly suggested, a small smirk on her lips as pink colored his pale face.

"W-what?" Shiro asked, looking down at her in surprise tying to process her sudden request. The woman gently tugging on his arm in the direction of the castle exit. "I need some air, and I can see in the dark better then you can." She explained, pointing to her eyes that seemed to glow strangely, Shiro hesitated before allowing her guide him out of the grand hall, a few Arusians giving them knowing smiles when the two passed.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Far outside range of detection by the Castel's sensors or Devine, two Galrans hid among the thick vegetation, the smaller of the two disrupting the song of native insects. "Commander Sendak, the sentries are in position around the Arusian village." He informed the larger Galra who had his red cyber eye zoomed in on the Castel entrance, noticing all the small creatures coming in and out of the castle freely.

"Luck is on our side now, Haxus." Sendak purred with amusement, his cybernetic red eye watching the castle with a confident smirk. "The Castle's defenses are down and the door is wide open." The commander chuckled at how unguarded the base of Voltron was, and only after a few _lucky_ little battles. Then his eye spotted two very familiar forms walking out of the white and teal stronghold, zooming in closer he gave a wide toothy grin in recognition.

" ** _The Champion_** and **_The Healer_**? It's no wonder that simple beast fell so easily." He commented in amusement, confusing his subordinate. "Sir?" Haxus questioned, his commander chuckled. "A powerful pair, the earthling fights like a perfect solder. While the female protects and heals his wounds, allowing him to fight another day." Sendak mentioned, watching the two interact, making out a bit of their casual conversation. The commander's smile damping a little as he saw their finger's where interlaced.

"So we take the female first?" Haxus asked, spying the female holding the male's hand through binoculars, Devine looking harmless while subtlety flirting with Shiro, much to Sendak's displeasure. "Do not underestimate that one, she fights like a Galra and has no concern for her own life. It's thanks to her the druids gifted me this new arm." Sendak growled, flexing his large robotic arm, making it surge with violet quintessence. "Other than those two, it should be easy enough for you to infiltrate." Sendak mussed as he watched their two biggest threats distracting each other.

"I may not have to." Haxus mentioned as he spotted Pidge with Rover fatefully floating by their side.

"The small one has a Galra drone they've repurposed. If I can just get close enough to clone its signature code. I can send a bomb drone in undetected." He explained happily, not expecting it to be so easy after losing all five of their ships, and most of their equipment, to find and bring The Voltron Lions to Emperor Zarkon.

"I knew you would not disappoint me, Haxus." Sendak rumbled, keeping his eye on the familiar pair.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Look at them. The _new_ Paladins of Voltron. The fate of the universe is on the shoulders of _toddlers_ that barely know how to pilot, let alone fight." Allura spoke to the mice, looking down from the balcony above the grand reception hall with a deep frown on her face as she watched the _new_ red paladin drink Nunvill, before spitting it out on the _new_ yellow paladin, who acted hurt as he stuck two Arusian treats over his eyes, making the crowd below laugh joyfully.

The princess let out a worried sigh.

"I must portray strength. No one else must know how concerned I am about the fate of our mission." She whispered to them in confidence before Plachu, the blue mouse with sharp red eyes squeaked from her right shoulder.

 _'Not even Coran? or your father?'_ the mouse questioned, as Allura seemed to have understood it's squeaks. "Let's... keep that a secret." She pleaded with the mice as Plachu squeaked more.

 _'You are not the only one with secrets, Allura.'_

"Who else has secrets?" She asked, becoming interested in what the tiny beings had witnessed when no one knew they were present. Plachu jumped from her shoulder on to the hand railing, where the other mice where perished. The mouse started to sway, twirl, and stand on his toes, while squeaking a strange tune before falling to his knees, taking the paw of the pink mouse, Chuchule, who blushed before looking away, fluttering her eyes.

"Yes, Miss Devine never struck me as a singer, or a romantic for that matter. What about the Paladins?" Allura decoded the squeaks, smiling a little with the interesting gem of information. Plachu pushed up the cheeks of the largest mouse, Platt, upwards trying to explain what they had seen.

The princess's eyes sparked with amusement. "Hunk tried to eat what? That is rather amusing. What more secrets do the Paladin's have?" She asked eagerly, trying to find other ways to motivate the paladins. Chulatt, the smallest blue mouse, eagerly volunteered, climbing on top of Plachu. Messing up the fur on top his head before grabbing his tail in his tiny paw, imitating the motion of firing blaster before twirling it confidently.

"Hmm, that seems like Lance." Allura responded, assuming to already know how much the _new_ blue paladin was like the _old_ blue paladin, Blaytz.

Chulatt then tried to look adorable, batting his eyes to look more feminine.

"Pidge is a what!?" Allura nearly shouted in surprise, looking at the mice before looking down below for the _new_ green paladin, spotting them with a backpack they tried to sneakily dump a tray of Arusian treats into it, then taking one of the sticks to use it to clean out their ear. Allura nearly looked away as the paladin pulled it out and sniffed the defiled end, retching from the scent.

"Are you sure?" The princess looked at Chulatt with suspicion, even when he nodded in confirmation. "I'm getting to the bottom of this." Allura walked away in determination, taking the stars in a regal manor she had been taught since she could stand, hands clasped in front of her as she passed Lance walking up the stairs, ignoring him as she zeroed in on Pidge at the bottom of the grand staircase.

"So, Pidge, we haven't had a chance to really... talk. Tell me about yourself." Allura inquired, putting her hands behind her back as she gave the paladin a demure smile. Pidge raising an eye brow at the princess's sudden interest. "Hmm... Well, I like peanut butter, and I like peanut butter cookies, but I hate peanuts. They're so dry." Pidge admitted, unsure of what else to tell the princess. "Also, I sweat a lot. I-I mean, in general, unrelated to the peanuts." The green paladin added on, noticing that the princess looked confused before trying to walk away before Allura moves to block their path.

"I-I suppose I was thinking of something a little more _personal_?" The princess suggested, winking at the young paladin. "We have a lot in common." Allura probed, leaning forward and offering her left ear for the paladin to whisper their confession to her. Yet Pidge still looks at the alien princess in confusion.

"Like what?" The youngest paladin asked innocently as allura tried to think of just what they had in common. "Oh, well... we both had our fathers taken away by Zarkon." Allura offered that commonality, expecting the lone female paladin to act like any destressed young girl would about her father. "Yeah, but I'm going to get mine back." Pidge crudely confessed, Allura looked at the paladin in shock. While pointing out the fact was hurtful, it was also delivered crassly and, not at all like the _old_ green paladin, Trigel, would have delivered the news. Then Pidge realized what they said to the Altean princess, and how insensitive it seemed.

"Augh... Sorry. I-I really didn't mean to—"

"No, I understand." The princess composed herself, a little comforted by the hasty apology. "I just want you to know that you can confide in me. If there's anything you ever want to talk about..." The princess kneeled slightly to the paladin's height, offering her ear again for the younger female's confession, but Pidge is silent.

" _Anything_." Allura probed again as Pidge seemed to finally pick up on her hint. "Huh? ... Okay. I do have something to tell you." The green paladin confessed, unsure of why the princess was probing her for it.

"I had a _feeling_ ~! What is it?" Allura asked, eagerly straitening her back and clasping her hands in front of her eagerly awaiting to learn about another young female in the castle. Planning on helping the young girl become a proper Lady Paladin. "I'm leaving Team Voltron." Pidge confesses, looking away guilefully. Allura smiling as she was about to speak, the words forgotten as she gasped happily only to register just what Pidge had told her.

"Wait, what?!"

"I decrypted most of the information from the Galra ship about where my brother might be, or at least where he was sent. I'd just like to get Miss Devine to look it over for any translation errors since she knows Galra." Pidge looked Allura in the eyes, determined to find her brother and meet up with her father, wherever he currently was. "I've made up my mind. I'm leaving tonight." Pidge informed the princess, who looked horrified

"Pidge, you can't. You're one of five Paladins." Allura pleaded, holding back frustrated tears. "You have a sacred trust to defend the universe." The princess declared desperately, placing her hands on the _new_ green paladin's shoulders, only for Pidge to pull away from her quickly. "My first priority is to find my family! I thought you of all people would understand. If you had a chance to get your father back, wouldn't you?" Pidge carelessly alleged, regretting that question as Allura seemed to make the same face Devine did when she was unsure of how to calmly react to something.

"I'm sorry. I should go tell everyone else." The young paladin shyly apologized before walking away from the princess to find the older woman, her father's letter assuring her that she could trust the alien female with information... and secrets.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

" _So~,_ tell me. What makes _Shirogame_ , _Takashi~_ tick?" Devine asked, once they were outside. Using Shiro's full name in the Japanese format, which caught the black paladin off guard more than the question itself.

"What? How do you-?" he questioned unsurely as she giggled in amusement at the Paladin's shock. "I've met Dr. Holt. I was curious, so I asked asked him a few questions about himself, his crew, family, and even Earth in general." She admitted happily with a wide smile, exposing her sharp cat like teeth, reminding the paladin that she was an alien, no matter how _human_ she seemed to be sometimes.

"I... really don't know how to answer that." He admitted as she tilted her head, he couldn't tell what she was thinking; they were a little furry and hard to make out, possibly from all the alcohol. "Okay then, how about you start with your likes and dislikes, any hobbies or dreams you have? That's simple enough right?" she helpfully asked, seeming very eager to know more about him. Devine was still holding his hand with their fingers interlaced, he could feel it through the fake arm as she gently grasped his hand a little tighter. She was supposed to be a stranger to him, but the woman felt so familiar. He watched her eyes softly glow in the dark of the Arusian night, white lashes framing the golden orbs that stared back at him.

"Only if you do the same." Shiro reasoned, looking away from her eyes and out at the castle's perimeter, expecting her to-"Okay. I like Cats, sweets, and Horror films. I dislike miniskirts, _tentacles_ and the color pink." She informed him, the paladin looking at her in shock when she mentioned tentacles with a strange hiss. The woman smirking up at him, waiting for Shiro to share information about himself.

Only he was to reluctant to mention anything to the strange woman, but gently tugged on his prosthetic arm again. "Come on~ I share, you share~. Isn't that how it works with you Humans?" she teased lightly, Shiro still looked nervous before pulling his robotic hand from her hold.

"Well, I like drawing, looking up at the stars..." he admitted unsurely, looking up at the unfamiliar stars in the sky for a second and then looking over at the distance trees. "and watching the cherry trees bloom, but I'm not fond of cherries or the Galra for that matter." He admitted bashfully, his face growing warm as Devine smiled softly up at him, trying commit his words to memory.

"Do you dislike all Galra, or just the ones you've met so far?" She asked, her smile fading a little as her eyes darkened with worry. She looked up at him almost pleadingly, the paladin had to look away as his heart hammered heavily in his chest. "Are... I guess... Zarkon and Sendak are not the standard for all Galra?" he asked unsurely, not quite understanding why she was asking and looking nervous as she shook her head.

"No, they are just corrupted examples." Devine sighed, looking away as her eyes became unfocused from thought. "There are still _kind_ , _loving_ , _goofy_ , and even _peaceful_ Galrans living in this world. They're just harder to find, unless you know where to look." She giggled, a smile stretching across her lips, surprising the Paladin, trying to understand her description of the _cruel_ , _unfeeling_ , _serious_ , and _vicious_ race that was enslaving the universe.

For a moment he didn't and couldn't believe her, then he recalled what, the woman had said about his battle with Myzax and the incident with Matt before it, both turning out to be true. Remembering the last words he had whispered to Matt, two Sentries pulling him off his injured crewmate.

 _'Take care of your father.'_

Shiro felt something gently nudge him to get closer to the woman in front of him, forgetting about patrolling the perimeter for the moment.

"How about your Hobbies and dreams then?" Devine prodded, curious about what the Leader of Voltron was thinking, wanting to learn more about _him_. Noticing a faint glow behind his sliver eyes, before they darkened. "How about you first?" Shiro asked her, feeling his reluctance she pouted for a tick before replying.

"Fine. My hobbies are learning new things, training, and gambling." She admitted biting her lip. "My dream to see Voltron has already come true so, what about yours? _Nya~_ " she asked, tilting her head slightly, making the cat noise simply for her own amusement. Not expecting Shiro to blush a deep red and stare at her with wide eyes, the reaction planting a mischievous idea in her head for later.

" _Shiro~?_ Now's your turn." She prompted him, gently poking his nose playfully as he looked down at her in shock. "Ah? Miss Devine... your ears... and you... have a tail..." Shiro pointed out nervously looking away form the fluffy white cat ears with soft pink stripes, _and_ the matching tail that had a tuff of lavender fur at the tip. He briefly questioned if she really was an alien, or a mythical Cat girl.

" _Ta-ka-shi~,_ answer my question." She provoked, teasingly drawing out the syllables of his given name, cupping his cheek to gently guide him back to looking at her. Smirking as she gave a small gasp, tasted the man's familiar scent on her tongue, the rush of blood to his face becoming super imposed in her vision, and locked on to his wide sliver eyes. "What are your Hobbies, and your _Dream_ ~?" she asked again, purring the last word sensual as she pressed her body gently into the rigid paladin. Shiro's eyes following her tail, watching lavender tuff swish back and forth behind her, almost hypnotizing form the soft glow it seemed to give off in the night.

"I... I like to exercise and draw... my dream was to-" The Japanese male was confessing to her eyes slowly closing, Devine feeling his heart hammering heavily in his chest even threw his armor. The woman was eager to hear his response and moved closer as his voice got softer, lips just inches apart.

"Shiro? Miss Devine? I need to talk to you both." Pidge cut in unsurely, snapping the two out of what ever trance that had been in, quickly stepping away from each other before Shiro cleared his throat before addressing the youngest paladin.

"Sure, Pidge. What about?" he asked, feeling the cold night air cool down his heated face. Pidge became a little distracted by the glowing purple tuff of fur at the end of Devine's newest appendage that slipped over the jacket tied around her waist. "You have a tail too?" Pidge asked, Devine let out a deep sigh, slightly pouting at being unable to get Shiro to admit his dream to her, even if she suspected it to be related to space somehow.

"What do you need, _Katie_?" she asked, trying not to snap at the young paladin, using the girl's real name unconsciously in her annoyance. Shiro seemed astonished that the woman knew the green paladin's real name; while Katie was amused by the older paladin's look of shock. "I wanted you to check something for me. Just to be sure I have all these translations right." Katie asked, showing Devine the partly translated data the two paladins managed to retrieve from the destroyed Galra ship, using the paladin armor to project the data.

Devine bent forward slightly to look over the familiar characters, sobering up as soon as she read the first few Galra characters. Looking through the prisoner manifest, frowning as she recognized just _where_ some of the prisoners had gone. Male, female, and children where all separated before a primary evaluation of their health and strength, then assigned _positions._ She tried not to show her destress at the number of female prisoners, and at the number of them that where labeled as _dead_.

The woman omitted several lines, not wanting the young female to learn to much about how the Galra treated female prisoners. About halfway through the data, Devine high-pitched noise that caught her attention, looking up for the source she spotted the floating Galra drone, Rover, innocently hovering next to Pidge. With a gasp, bolt of fear shot through the woman as her ears focused on the sound coming from the repurposed drone.

Without thinking she growled and created a glowing white dagger that she sent flying into a collection of large rocks and bushes. The human paladins looked at her in shock and confusion form the sudden hostility, hearing her growling angerly at something.

"Miss Devine?" Shiro questioned, as her growl seemed to imitate that of a tiger, her furry ears pulled back against her skull. "There's nothing there." Katie mentioned, squinting to look threw the darkness, seeing the glow of the dagger the woman had just thrown. Rover made a few audible sounds before Shiro placed his prosthetic hand on her shoulder, cautious of the red sparks she was admiting.

"Devine?" he called her name, but her ears where still pined flat on her head possibly unable to hear him. Blushing lightly, the Voltron leader did the only thing he could think of to relax the riled woman. Using his prosthetic fingers, he gently traced the shell of her ear, and started to gently scratch at the base of the furry appanage.

" _Ahh~_." Devine moaned sensually, shivering at the pleasant feeling making her sparking pink, and forget what she was doing previously. Shiro shamefully blushed that his idea had worked, while Katie grinned like a Cheshire cat, noticing the woman's tail wrap around Shiro's upper thigh as she pushed her head into Shiro's touch. It seemed to take the woman a minute to realize what she was doing, before grabbing the Paladin's arm forcefully.

"Don't do that!" Devine hissed loudly, carefully removing the hand from her sensitive ear. Blushing as she turned to face them, Shiro looked away from her uncertainly, the tuff of fur from her tail brushing somewhere... _inappropriate_ as it wrapped and unwrapped around his thigh.

"Come on, I think the others will need to know about this too." She suggested, making her way back to the castle, throwing a look at Haxus hiding place. She could sense he was still there, but not Sendak within her severally limited range of detection. ' _Please be the right choice.'_ She pleaded to any higher power that would listen to her, knowing things would get really bad, really fast in a few minutes. Even if she did something to prevent it, something she didn't know could happen and she was unwilling to take the risk with the Paladin's lives and mentality.

The paladins followed her inside, unaware of how close the enemy was, the fake Rover floated in after them.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Pidge. No." Shiro pleaded desperately, looking at the young Paladin in with concern. Devine looking just as concerned, but not for the same reason as she tuned of what was happening. Allura, Hunk and Keith joining them after being told Pidge was leaving the team, looking very anxious about one of the paladins leaving.

"Miss Devine already looked over and corrected my rough translations. The data we got from the Galra ship is just enough to point me in the right direction of my brother, since... I know my dad is safe." She looked at Devine hopefully, but the woman seemed preoccupied with something else in her mind. "I have a pod prepped to start my search." Pidge informed everyone, glancing at Devine, who kept look at Rover with disapproval instead of her.

"You can't leave." Keith spoke up glaring down at Pidge as he confronted the shorter paladin, trying to intimidate her into staying; only there was only there was a less than six-inch height difference between the two.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Pidge shot back at him, standing up straighter for her brown eyes to glare a shorter distance into Keith's own, darkening blue-gray eyes. "If you leave, we can't form Voltron, and **_THAT_** means we can't defend the universe against **_Zarkon_**! You're not the only one with a family." He mentioned, making Pidge look away in guilt. "All these Arusians have families. Everyone in the universe has families." Keith added, bringing the mood of everyone even further down.

"Yeah, I have a family." Hunk spoke up, distracting the two for a moment. "They live on Earth. I want to be with them. Is that like... a thing that can happen?" he asked nervously, making the situation worse as Allura looked terrified as her father's legacy was falling apart right before her eyes.

"You want to leave too!?" She asked, almost shouting as her distress was clear on her face.

"Of course I do!" Hunk admitted as he quickly realized he had dug himself in a hole. "Look, Voltron is super-cool, don't get me wrong, but... I never signed up for a lifetime in space, fighting aliens." He looked away, guilty but quickly made eye contact with the distressed princess.

"It's not forever, Hunk." Devine spoke up, uneasy with the tension she could feel even with her empathy dulled. "I swear on my life-no, on _my quintessence_ that **_ALL_** of you will see your families again." She promised, holding a hand open over her beating heart as they stared at her in shock, Allura looking the most stunned as she knew of the great importance of Quintessence in any living being, and even promising _her_ hope to see her father or mother again after 10,000 years was ludicrous.

Keith however didn't have much hope in his heart of finding his family. "Do you see how selfish your being, Pidge!? You're putting the lives of two people over everyone else in the entire _Universe_!?" he yelled approaching Pidge, ready to do something he might regret, before Devine stepped in his way.

" _Keith Kogane_ , that's enough." She spoke his full name coldly, an odd look to her eyes that made the red paladin flinch back, but only for a moment.

"How can you defend him? Your family is-"

" ** _Dead_**."

Keith started but was quickly silenced with that one word from the woman, and the look she was giving him was unsettling. It made him shiver as she looked at him with lifeless yellow eyes, like the eyes of a corpse. Devine slowly closed her eyes before turning to Pidge, showing her ember eyes alight with worry.

"Are... are you going to tell me to stay to?" Pidge asked nervously, looking away before Devine gently cupped her chin to look up at her. Giving the younger female a sad but supporting smile, like the one her mom gave her before she left for her ' _spy mission'_.

"No. I wanted to tell you that Voltron, especially Peridot, will always welcome you back." Devine assured the young girl, her eyes widen before feeling the older woman kiss her forehead, in very motherly way. Pink sparks arched into a heart from their brief skin contact before the woman pulled away. "And to wish you _Good Luck_ in finding your brother." Devine concluded, removing her hand from the young girl, leaving her conflicted about her decision for a moment.

"Thank you." Pidge said quietly as Devine gave her a sageful nod and sad smile before Keith spoke up.

"He can't do this! Who's going to pilot the green lion, **_YOU_**? You're a worse pilot than Lance! You _can't_ be a **_Paladin of Voltron_**!" Keith yelled at Devine in anger callously, Pidge was startled as Devine's eyes opened wide... and the life behind them disappearing before-

"Ke- ** _ITH_**!" Shiro shouted in reprimand, but it quickly turned to panic as the hot-headed paladin slammed into the wall, taking a powerful slap to the face. Falling to the floor, Keith was dazed from his head hitting the wall, a strange buzzing noise ringing in his ears, an angry red hand print appearing on the left half his face. The young man didn't notice Devine approach him purposely, the others frozen in shock at what they had just witnessed. They didn't move as the woman picked up the fallen paladin by his neck... and squeezed tightly.

Keith struggled on instinct, fear driving him as she looked at him with those dead yellow eyes, her claw like nails digging into his skin, constricted his air wave and prevented him from even opening his mouth. His hands clawed uselessly at her jacket sleeve, too weak against her abnormal strength and his lack of air.

"Devine! Stop! Keith needs-" Shiro approached her worriedly, reaching out with his Galra hand to break her hold on him, only to freeze himself. Looking into those lifeless yellow eyes, having them stare back at him, changing colors and shape but always with the same lifeless look, the eyes of the aliens he had killed to survive where looking at him.

Devine then let Keith go, the young paladin gasped greedily for air choking on his words.

"Wha-what was that!?" Keith asked, trembling as he started to feel sick as his stomach turned and twisted unhappily. Either from what just happened, or the Nunvil the woman, who almost strangled him, had advised to stay away from. Devine walked away, eyes obscured by white hair she walked past Alura and Hunk, who looked conflicted on who to comfort.

"Keith...you shouldn't have said that to her. We don't know what she's been through, or how she lost her family." Shiro scolded the young man, looking pale as he tried to get the haunting death stares out of his mind, some memories he could live without. "Miss Devine can pilot just fine, but... her hands shake a lot on the controls." The black paladin explained, looking at his hands that had gently steadied the woman's hands enough to pilot Obsidian, performing some rather _elegant,_ aerial maneuvers in the process, yet the tremors in her hands seemed to get worse the longer she grasped the Lion's controls.

"Pidge, if you want to leave, we won't try to stop you. Just please, think about what you're doing." Shiro pleaded as he looked sadly at the tearful young girl, Pidge just turned away from them. "I'm sorry... Miss Devine would make a Great Paladin, better than any of us." She stated, truly believing in the older woman's capabilities before heading towards the pod she had waiting.

"I can't believe it. This team is falling apart." Allura whispered soberly, watching Pidge walk away helplessly, Devine disappearing deeper into the castle somewhere. "How will Voltron ever form again?" she asked out loud, hopeing someone would give her a good answer as she tried to stay calm.

"We'll get it together somehow princess, don't you worry." Shiro tried to assure the princess before checking the noticeable crescent shaped markings on Keith's neck, that seemed to only have scratched a bit of skin. ' _What happened to her?_ ' Shiro questioned with a frown, becoming even more confused as he saw faceless black bodies lying on a crimson red carpet. The image unnerved the Voltron Leader, but before he could think anymore, the castle trembled with great force, their Arusian guests panicking and running out of the castle in fear.

Once the trembling stopped, the castle lights went out with it.

"Ah? What just happened?" Hunk asked, looking around in the dark at the others, only able to see Shiro and Keith thanks to their paladin armor giving off a soft teal glow.

"I don't know, lets head to the main deck, we can figure it out from there." Allura instructed as she was able to navigate in the dark halls from memory alone. "Ah!" The princess shouted in surprise as she tripped over something unexcitedly, a pair of strong arms quickly wrapping around her, keeping her from an embarrassing fall.

"Are you alright princess?" she heard Shiro's voice very near to her sensitive Altean ears, feeling his warm breath flutter past them. "I-I'm fine, Shiro! Let's get going." She assured him, willing her heart to stop pounding in this very troubling situation.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Sendak chuckled victoriously, watching all the weak little Arusians flee the castle in terror, abandoning their _friends_.

"So much for your _allies_ , Paladins. They will be of no help to you." He laughed before coming out of his hiding place, with the few remaining sentries he had left, and the crystal from his ship, ready to replace the one they destroyed.

"Stop! Evil invader!" an Asurian with a crude weapon got in his way, the small creature trembling as Sendak observed it, and took a closer look at the glowing red orb in its sword.

"Where did you get that orb?" he asked curiously as the little creature was either brave or stupid to get in his way."Klyzap will tell you nothing! Go away or face the wrath of the Arusian's bravest warrior!" Klyzap yelled, the orb glowing more, stopping him from trembling as his eyes started to glow gold.

"Oh my, I'm so scared." He chuckled, underestimating the brave creature as Klyzap lunged at him with his sword, the outline of a red fiery feline surrounding him... actually hitting the commander with a fiery cut. "Agh! You little pest! That actually hurt!" he yelled as he felt the cut burn with strange energy on the back of his right claw, using his robotic left to punch the little creature into several trees, making him drop his strange weapon in the progress.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Allura and the present Paladins, made their way to the control room quickly, using the strangely still working elevator, only instead of teal and white, the teal was replaced by a glowing lavender energy. Once on the correct floor they were greeted by thick smoke from the aftermath of whatever had just transpired.

"W-what happened here? Coran!?" Allura called out to her advisor worriedly only to be held back by a firm hand. "Stay behind us princess. It could be dangerous." Shiro suggested as he and the others carefully walked through the smoke, and threw the open doors of the main deck.

' _Internal bleeding down to 2 percent.'_

Shiro heard a familiar voice in his head but he couldn't see anyone threw the thick smoke... but he could _feel_ something guiding him in. "Follow me, but be careful." He voiced to the others who followed him inside, spotting a fallen Coran, trying to get up off the debris filled floor.

"Coran! What happened?" Shiro asked the Altean who was trying to get his bearings. Hunk and Shiro helping the Altean sit up. "I'm... not sure, but this really hurts." Coran answered, enough of the smoke cleared so they could see glowing lavender light hovering over something blue and white laying on the floor. "Lance!?" Allura called out the blue paladin's name in fear, as they all saw Devine hovering over the fallen paladin, making his chest glow a deep purple along with her hands.

"Devine!" Shiro called out to her as he, Allura and Keith as they watched the woman's hands press into the paladin armor, Lance's eyes closed with blood still pouring from an injury to his skull. The woman didn't acknowledge, as she remained focused on the blue paladin. "What are you doing!? He's bleeding out!?" Keith yelled at her, moving to grab the unresponsive woman only to be stopped by Shiro, who heard her voice again. Her hands and Lance's chest stopped glowing.

' _Internal bleeding healed. Remaining injuries: Small head wound on left cranium, non-fatal blow to the Occipital bone, left 4th, 5th and 6th ribs are back in place for proper healing, weak left Scapula, miss aligned right patella, old injury to the right talus tarsal to be restored later.'_

Shiro shook his head from all the information that flooded into his head, almost seeing an x-ray of Lance's body and image of his organs. The black paladin placed his right hand on Devine's shoulder carefully.

 _'Are you alright?'_ he asked, only in his mind, but she let out an audible sigh before responding to his question.

"I'm fine. Lance won't die on us anytime soon, but he's gonna be in a bit pain till he's been completely healed." She explained, her form slightly shaking under Shiro's hand. He felt and saw her fear, as one calloused hand creased the injured paladin's face tenderly.

"The crystal!" Allura nearly shrieked as she noticed the large blue crystal that lit up the main deck, was now in pieces all over the room. "Never mind the crystal; we got to get Lance to the infirmary." Pidge voiced as she saw the Cuban boy's current condition. "You don't understand, without that crystal, the castle has no power. We have no way of healing him properly." She explained worriedly, panic stating to show on her face.

"Then how did the elevator still work?" Hunk asked as Allura's eyes widen in surprise and confusion as she realized the elevator still worked without the crystal. "I gave my energy to a few important systems, we can still get Lance into a healing pod, I can give it some of my energy until we get a proper crystal." Devine explained as Shiro cradled up Lance in his arms carefully.

"Your _energy_? But how-" Allura tried to ask but the Arusian king ran into the main deck, calling for them.

"Lion Warriors! Our village is under attack! Please, you must help us at once!" he pretended to plead, annoying Devine as she knew it was only a distraction and that he was cowardly enough to leave his own people in a time of need.

"Right. Let's get to the Lions!" Keith voiced, ready to get to Ruby and have some control over what was going on, before Allura gave him the bad news. "You can't! They're sealed in their hangars, and there's no other way to get them out." She broke it to them, filling the other paladins with dread before Keith looked at Devine pleadingly for help.

"I can't open the hangers. It took quite a bit of energy for me to heal Lance's internal injuries correctly. I could open one hanger about half way, but I would be using all my remaining quintessence." Devine cut the paladin off rudely, not mentioning the reserves she kept for more dire emergencies, the princess and Coran paled at the casual mention of such an act.

"Then we're defenseless." Allura looked ready to cry in fear and frustration, already drowning in self-loathing as she concluded it to be her fault.

"Will you not help us as you have claimed to do?" The king asked, looking angrily at the princess and the Paladins who started to worry. Devine trying not to reach out and comfort them to preserve her calm mind set, despite wanting to kill the Arusian _king_. Keith nervously turning to the woman.

"We'll help you, we just need our Lions. Miss Devine can you-"

"No." She was quick to halt Keith's request as the red paladin flinched at her cold tone. "W-why not Devine herald?" the king asked only to flinch back in fear as everyone heard something like a deep animalistic growl come from the woman.

"I have seen how you _rule_ your people, hiding under the guise of _pleasing_ The Lion Goddess. Claiming that your will is her will; your desires are what she wishes for, and if anyone goes against you... they will end up, _displeasing,_ the Lion Goddess and being sacrificed to the _FLAMES_!" Devine growled out angrily, having kept that information to herself for so long. The King paled at his secret being let out of its cage... and it was coming for him with _divine vengeance_.

"W-what!?" Allura questioned at the shocking accusations about the ruler of their new friends.

"Lies! That is all that spews form your mouth like venom! Do not believe her! She lies!" the king shouted as Devine's eyes narrowed as she huffed in disbelief. " _Really_? So telling them you discarded the communication device the princess gave you is a lie as well?" Devine asked, and the King froze in panic as the rest of team Voltron looked at her in surprise, aside from Coran. "Miss Devine! How can you say such a thing? The Arusians are, our friends. The king would never discard such an important gift. Right your highness?" Allura asked the king fearfully, only two notice him fidget nervously.

"Y-yes, this chaos seeker probably stole the device to-"

"Did you find it, Coran?" Devine interrupted the king's weak excuses. The _trusted_ Altean advisor pulled out the same communicator Allura had gifted the king from his pocket with a deep frown. The Princess gasped as the orange Altean handed the device to her for inspection, exposing the king's lies when she examined the engraving, having had asked the elder Altean to etch it into the surface.

"I'm sorry Allura, but what Miss Devine said is true. We only kept it from you to protect your feelings. The Arusian King never intended to keep contact with us anyway. We would just disrupt his little iron fisted rule over his subjects." Coran explained, the young woman having let it slip while they drank Nunvil in the kitchen to numb the empath's sensitivity to emotions. The Princess was rightfully shaken with the news, questioning her own judgment about the Arusian king, and the paladins.

" _Fish Bait_ , save questioning your judgment for another time. The Arusian village really does need help. Go with Keith and helped them out." Devine spoke up sternly, the Princess looked at her in confusion, startled at suddenly being called something other than her name or title.

"Pidge, did you leave the bay doors open?" Devine suddenly asked, turning to the young paladin who blinked at her authoritative tone. "Y-yeah, I was just loading up my pod before the power went out." Pidge admitted as Devine gave her a nod, turning to Coran and Hunk. "Good. Coran, use the pod to find the second nearest Balmera. Hunk, go with him, he's gonna need someone strong to help him bring that crystal back." She informed the nervous yellow paladin, but the Altean seemed confused.

"Just a tick, why the second nearest?" Coran asked innocently, Devine had hoped he wouldn't have asked. "Because I have Balmera DNA, but I can't create battleship class crystals from my body." She admitted, everyone looking at her like she was insane. "But Balmeras are planet sized, ancient, petrified creatures!? It's not possible to be part Blamera!" Coran questioned as she sighed, reaching under her shirt to remove several crystals carelessly from her back, showing off the blood-stained gems as softly glowed lavender before fusing into one that fit into the palm of her hand.

"Okay that is very convincing, but still… **_HOW_**!?" Coran asked as Devine sighed, stowing the crystal away for later in her jacket. "That's not important right now; we don't have a lot of time and we're easy pickings for any mildly competent Galra. So let's move and get this castle back up and running again. Shiro bring Lance to the infirmary, he should be safe in a healing pod for the time being." She instructed, Shiro fighting back the urge to salute, she sene everyone off to their tasks. Carefully picking up Lance in his arms, cradling him like a small child. Devine walking backwards every few minutes, worriedly checking on the Cuban boy.

"He'll be fine, you checked him over yourself, Miss Devine." Shiro tried to assure the nervous female as she was biting her lip bloody. "I know but... I don't like what's gonna come next." She told him worriedly as they made their way through the infirmary, having to cross the grand entry way before being on the right side of the castle.

"Coran's grandfather was a _shitty_ designer, this castle is just so... **_extra_** and **_impractical_**!" she companied uneasily, stopping in the middle of the grand entry way suddenly. " _Quiznack_." She cursed, Shiro looked at her in surprise before following her eyes. Spotting the approaching Galra intruders just outside the castles doors, Sendak leading a small group of sentries pushing a large dark purple crystal behind him.

" **Sendak**." Shiro growled, conflicted on what to do with an injured Lance and Devine to look after.

"Take care of _Sendick_ , I'll look after Lance." Devine assured him, looking fearful but determined as he gave a quick nod, setting the young paladin on a nearby ledge before he approached the massive Galra. "Be careful, he's a smart one." Devine warned as she glared in the Galra's direction as Shiro frowned with worry, walking out of the castle to meet Sendak before he even entered the castle.

"Stand aside, _Champion_." Sendak spat out the paladin's former title, looking displeased as Shiro took a fighting stance. "No. You're not getting in." Shiro growled as he stood his ground, ready to defend the castle with his life, prosthetic arm glowing purple.

"Yes, I am." The Galra responded, throwing out his own prosthetic arm like a yo-yo, only with claws as it grabbed Shiro's Galra arm, yanking him further away from the castle, and from Devine's protective shield as the woman bit back the urge to call out to him in panic. _'Stay calm; this will not be the same... somehow..._ ' She thought nervously as Shiro lay on the ground before the Commander, Sendak raising his massive arm to bring it down on the defenseless human only for Shiro to back flip out of the way, putting some space between them as he activated his Galra arm again, the hand glowing a dark purple before turning into a soft lavender color.

Devine was confused by the changing color before she a soft moan of pain distracted her.

"Lance." She called his name worriedly, looking over at the weakened paladin again for more injuries, drowning out the sound of metal scraping against metal, Shiro and Sendak fighting just outside the castle. "M-miss D-devine?" Lance called out to her weakly as she gently cupped his face tenderly. "I'm here, Hun. You were hurt pretty bad, save your strength." She told him softly as she gently whipped away some dirt from his face as he moaned in pain. "How's Coran?" he asked weakly as she could feel the teen's worry for the Altean.

"He's fine, Alteans are very durable. He would have survived the blast with just a few broken bones, but it was still a good thing for you to shield him. Your paladin armor took the worst of it, but you still have some serious injuries." She told him as she saw his blue eyes trying to focus. "That's... good..." he said before drifting off, eyes closing in tied relief. Devine letting herself smile softly as she noticed the pink sparks aching into little hearts where their skin met.

 ** _"AGH!"_**

Devine was startled as she turned around to see Shiro laying on the floor behind her, a cold chill coming over her as she saw the giant Galra arm come at him. Her body moved of its own accord as she stepped in front of the glowing purple claw... only to stop it by projecting a shield made up of several white diamond shaped shields. The massive gauntlet hit the shield, pushing back the woman an inch, but the shield still held strong and blocked the Galra from entering any further into the castle.

"You. Shall. Not. _PASS_." Devine hissed out as she held up the shield as the arm retracted back into place, the Galra commander giving her an unsettling grin.

"Fascinating. The druids did wonders with you, _Princess_ ~." Sendak mused, Devine feeling his smug glee from yards away as he approached with what was left of his crew, he was too confident. "You've escaped me once, but I will have _you~_ Along with the Lions of Voltron and their Paladins _."_ He purred, licking his fangs slowly, making her cringe in degust as she knew what he wanted her for, making it all to clear.

"Not even over my **_dead_** body!" Devine hissed angrily, red sparks dancing around her feet and fists, making the large Galra chuckle as his henchmen, Haxus, came into view, holding something that was vigorously struggling to get out of its bindings.

"Klyzap!" She called the Arusian's name, seeing the struggling alien with a gag over his mouth, but his eyes expressed his sorrow and worry. Distracted, she let the shield drop long enough for Sendak's arm to cover the short distance between them... and grab her.

"DEVINE!" Shiro called out as he saw a massive claw wrap around her and take her away. An unexplainable, sudden, instance fear came over him as he tried to pull her away from danger... but he was too late. Sendak already held onto her tightly in his massive claw. "How foolish. You have no regard for your own life, yet you value the life of such a weak and moronic creature." Sendak chuckled as he spoke about Klyzap, who looked ashamed of himself for trying to help Devine in return for her kindness, only to get her and two paladins captured by an evil invader.

"Screw you, _**Fluff Butt**_!" Devine yelled as she sparked a dark purple color, deactivating the prosthetic arm, making the massive claw dropping uselessly to the ground as Sendak expressed his shock, ears twitching as he tried to process the moniker that was just uttered.

"I-impossible!? H-how?" Haxus questioned, staring at the gauntlet lying uselessly on the ground, his hold on the Arusian weakened enough for Klyzap to try kick the red lion orb out of the Galra's bag the strange orb glowing bright red as the moonlight hit it. "Enough with your squirming!" he yelled in frustration as he pointed a charged blaster at the Arusian's head, making him freeze in fear.

Sendak laughed loudly after getting over his shock, Devine and Shiro equally as surprised by the strange ability. "I would not have believed it without seeing it with my own eyes." He grinned wickedly as his flesh and blood arm grabbing the woman by her upper right arm, noticing the woman flinch.

"Let her go, Sendak. It's a fight with _me_ you want." Shiro spoke up, his heart pounding in his ears in on coming panic, watching Devine claw uselessly at the Galra's armored wrist. "No. I much rather have her. She will be much more _useful_ _than_ your corpse ever could." Sendak grinned as Devine paled at the thought of Shiro's dead, and mangled body.

' ** _No.'_** Shiro and Devine thought together in helpless fear.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Power up the Castle." Sendak ordered elatedly, with the Champion and his young comrade lying at his feet, knocked out cold for the time being. The troublesome Arusian acting as Haxus' insurance against the female the commander had keeling on his right, like an obedient pet, her hands in physical restraints she could not just deactivate. Even if Sendak could use his arm again after a few ticks, he didn't want to take the chance she would take that advantage. Haxus does as he is commanded, the castle drawing power from the violet Balmera crystal the sentries attached to it, supplying the castle with its corrupted energy, the castle's normal teal lighting glowing a vicious shade of purple.

The feeling from the crystal was strangely making Devine sick, Zarkon's emblem appearing around the room as her head throbbed uncontrollably, chocking back cries of pain, her chest compressing tightly, making it hard to breath.

"Good~ The Lions are all tucked away in their bays. Raise the particle barrier and begin launch sequence." Sendak smirked at the images of all five Lions sitting still in their hangers, not having moved an inch from their pervious spots.

' _Allura. Keith.'_ Devine thought of the princess and the red paladin, catching a vision of the dark purple particle barrier coming down in front of Allura and someone in red and white paladin armor. The woman gulped nervously, waiting fearfully for what would happen next.

"Make contact with Emperor Zarkon." Sendak commanded with a smirk, running his claws threw her soft white hair, Haxus connected them to the Emperor of the Gala Empire. Devine's eyes widen in shock, locking eyes with the Emperor's image before he spoke. " _Sendak_..." The Emperor hissed the commander's name strangely as his glowing purple eyes narrowing even more. Where he was actually looking was difficult without any visible pupils but she could feel the violet eyes observing her next to the Galra Commander.

"My mission is complete. I've captured the Altean castle, with all the Voltron Lions trapped inside, and I even found the _woman_ who dared to defy you my lord." Sendak tugged on Devine's hair, the woman to distracted to react to the slight pain as she stared at Zarkon, smiling?

"Do not harm her, _Sendak_. I will be seeing to her punishment... _personally_." The Galra ruler snapped strangely, eyes narrowing further as Devine could have sworn his frown deepened, the commander let go of her hair. "Of course my lord, the _princess_ and the lions will all be delivered to you shortly. Vrepit Sa!" Sendak saluted Zarkon who was quiet for a tick to long. Devine feeling him look at her as she glared back at him, shaking in slight fear.

"Vrepit Sa." Was all Zarkon said before the transmission was ended, leaving Haxus with a confused frown, glancing at the white hared woman who didn't resemble the Altean princess.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Outside the Castel, Allura looked up at the dark purple particle barrier with worry as Keith summoned his Sword. "Can we break through the barrier?" He asked, looking to the princess for some helpful information. "No. Whoever has taken the Castle has a Crystal, which means they'll be able to fly the ship. We have to stop them... somehow." Allura told him honestly, mentally going through any possible plan to get past the castle's barrier.

Keith growled in frustration, as he and Allura had helped the Arusians put out fires, saving a few of them from brining to death like the king instructed them to do. His people having turned on him before the two of them rushed back to the castle, arriving too late. The red paladin clenched his fists as he worried about Shiro, Devine, even Lance and Pidge who he assumed were still all inside the castle… hopefully alive.

 _TINK!_

"Huh?" Keith looked around for the source of the strange sound, raising his sword in defense in case of an attack.

 _TINK! TINK! Siiisssss~_

"What is that?" He asked, looking around for the source, a warm sensation coming up from his foot. Looking down, the young man found a familiar red orb with a deep red roaring head of a lion inside, rolling into his foot as it left strange scorch marks on the ground, leading back to the particle barrier that looked like it was just poked with a blazing rod, a smallish hole near the bottom that slowly closed back up.

"What is that?" Allura asked, noticing the orb. She looked at it worriedly, clearly seeing the air around it bending from the heat, burning the ground under it, yet the red paladin didn't seem bothered by its heat, picking it up curiously. "I don't know, but this was in that Arusian's weapon Miss Devine made." Keith remembered, squeezing it tightly making the orb glow an angry red, making his eyes open wide, admitting a lavender glow.

 _The image of an unconscious Shiro Lance, and Klyzap helplessly restrained. The smug face of Sendak, and then face of Zarkon himself._

"Agh! What the-?" Keith questioned, rapidly blinking away the strange glow from his eyes, Allura looking at him in shock. "Do... do human's eyes usually glow like that?" she asked with concern, reaching out to the orb unsurely, stopping as she could feel the heat radiating from the glowing ball, pulling away.

"No, I think this thing can help us. Whatever it is." Keith looked closely at the orb, hoping to see more of what was going on inside, only to wince as he felt something taping into his _brain_.

" ** _Keith? Can you hear me?"_** Keith nealy jumped, hearing a familiar voice, thankfully threw his com link. "Pidge? Is that you? Where are you?" He asked worriedly, gripping the orb a bit tighter, feeling warm red sparks tingling his skin under the armor. "Inside the Castel. Sendak and his henchmen took one of the Arusians as a hostage to get to Miss Devine, Shiro and Lance. He's preparing for launch right now." The Green Paladian explained, Keith looked down at the orb in his hand, knowing which Arusian they had.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Devine tried to even out her breathing to stay calm, fending off an impending anxiety attack, trying to stop her shaking and show none of the fear she was feeling. ' _Stay calm, we will get out of this…'_ She thought, reaching out to Klyzap who wasn't moving much, she could feel his guilt, fear, and anger. Reaching Lance and Shiro she could tell the young paladin was partly faking his unconsciousness, listening to what was going on and trying to comprehend it. Shiro was slowly waking up but was feeling pain from where Sendak had struck him vindictively hard, Devine worried that he may have cracked the black paladin's skull.

' _Takashi?'_ she called out his name in her mind worriedly, taping into the strange psychic connection Obsidian had _gifted_ her with. _'Devine?'_ She heard his voice echo in her mind, she felt the paladin awaken to a thick cloud of confusion. _'Shiro!? Can you hear me?'_ She questioned unsurely, worried it was just her own mind playing tricks on her. ' _Yes.'_ He responded, his eyes looking at her with an unfocused daze. _'Can you move? How's your head?'_ She asked worriedly, risking a glance back at him and Lance. Shiro softly moaned as he moved his fingers and toes slightly, trying not to be noticed.

' _What hit me?'_ he asked, only to see himself receive a skull crushing blow to the back of his head. _'Sendak.'_ She heard Shiro's voice hiss before her face was forced to look at the Galra commander, a cold chill coming over her body at his scowl.

"The Champion can't help you _Princess_. Soon you will face the wrath of Emperor Zarkon for your defiance." He mused as Devine scowled at him, feeling a pang of panic shoot threw the two paladins. **_'Allura!?'_** They both questioned mentally in sudden shock, Devine having heard both their voices, only to see Allura looking worriedly at the castle's dark purple barrier, feeling them calm down with confusion after seeing the image of the princess being out of the Commander's clutches.

' _She's safe.'_ Devine thought, flinching as she felt Sendak's right hand cress her cheek. "Shame I can't keep you to myself. The last few females I breed could only birth more females. You look like you would produce _very_ strong sons for me~." Devine froze as her eyes widen in fear at his suggestion, pressing her thighs together tightly.

"Commander Sendak." Haxus called out to him, a deep frown on the Galra's face for some reason. "Why is Lord Zarkon so interested in having this one alive?" he asked as Sendak frowned, his hand leaving Devine's body, much to her relief. The Galra Commander was quite for several ticks before he spoke again. "It's not your place to question the Emperor. Run the main cluster activation sequence. It's about time we left this pitiful planet."

"Yes, Commander." Haxus turned to the work station Coran usually used, as Sendak seemed to be keeping a deep seeded secret that didn't have good memories for him. Devine sparked green before she shook her head to clear away her curiosity. ' _Best not to hop down that deep rabbit hole.'_ She thought looking worriedly at Kylzap was locked eyes with her, seeing his memory of the red Lion orb she gifted him being left on the ground, before switching to look at a familiar red and white bayard.

"Activation sequence initiated. Powering up for launch." Haxus announced as Devine cringed, the corrupted quintessence making its way throughout the castle, she couldn't breathe as black spots ate at the edge of her vision, before going completely black as she heard Hexus shout in surprise.

"The main engine shorted out!"

Devine gave a weak smirk before falling to her side into unconsciousness.

"DEVINE!" Shiro called out loudly, seeing her slump to the floor as the Castel was being powered up, yet neither Galra seemed concerned about her just falling over suddenly. "It seems the Druids made you more durable as well." Sendak commented with a scowl as he turned to the black paladin. "How disappointing." He muttered looking down at a passed-out Devine, unexplained fear shooting threw the paladin as he saw the commander kneel beside her and with a strange gentleness, brush her hair away from her face.

" _DON'T TOUCH HER!"_ Shiro yelled, confused by his sudden unexplained fear, his arm glowing dangerously before he heard the sentries behind him train their weapons on him, ready to kill him only... he was focused on Devine's lack of response and still chest. "She's not dead." Sendak said as he stared down at her carefully, her ember eyes were half closed, dull, and unfocused.

" _AGH_!" Shiro recklessly ran at the commander who was focused on the young woman, until the sentries shot at the paladin with the precision of storm troopers. Sendak's prosthetic arm took a shot meant for Devine, allowing Shiro's hand to get to close to his face, almost damaging his prosthetic eye, making the commander growl as he stumbled back.

"We still have Hostages!" Haxus yelled as he stepped on Kylzap, pointing his weapon at the frightened Arusian, Shiro almost didn't care, before the sentries walked over with an unconscious Lance. "And you left your comrade defenseless, for a _female_?" The smaller Gala narrowed his eyes in confusion as Shiro felt guilt sink in before Sendak grabbed his head and forced him down into a submissive bow, gray eyes staring at the floor a centimeter away from his nose.

"Haxus! I want whoever's infiltrated this ship found. _Now_!" Sendak ordered as dark purple blood spilled from his right eye slowly. "Y-yes, Commander!" Haxus hesitated as he saw the blood. Setting down the Arusian who slowly inched away from him as the Galra where distracted, trying to get closer to the humans, only to freeze a tick latter.

"Commander, I'm intercepting a transmission generating from somewhere inside." Haxus informed as Sendak placed wiped the blood from his destroyed eye as two voices where heard in the transmission.

 _"There's not much time before they get the ship running again. You must shut off the particle barrier so we can get in."_

 _"You got it. Tell me what to do."_

 _"The particle barrier generator is beneath the main hull."_

"She's telling the intruder how to take down our defenses." Haxus hissed, Shiro recognized the voices, conflicted on being relived or worried. Glancing over at Devine, he saw that her eyes were closed, chest slowly rising and falling in deep clam breaths.

' _It's gonna be... okay…'_ Shiro heard her voice before Sendak spoke.

"She's also giving away his location. Find that room and _kill_ the paladin!" Sendak ordered the sentries before they left the main deck, then turning to Haxus. "Repair the engine. Emperor Zarkon has commanded us to bring him Voltron and _The Princess_. I want this ship will rise before day's end." Sendak frowned as outside the castle it was becoming daylight.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

" _Powering sub panels."_ Haxus reported in, having left the main deck to repair the damage, yet he also had to bring his Arusian hostage as insurance. "Sub panel energy transducer is go." Sendak reported, unaware of the amused smirk slowly appearing on Devine's face, Shiro noticed this but a strange feeling came over him that made him sweat, but feel ice cold at the same time.

" _Aye, sir. Opening pathway to link with Bridge. Initializing main cluster reboot."_

Shiro gulped nervously at the silence, something about to go very wrong.

 _"Initializing complete. I'm set for main power up_." Haxus reported after a while as Sendak responded, started up the castle, Shiro saw Devine's breath hitch in fear before the alarms started to blare. _"Sir. Something is wrong."_ The Galra reported before there was nothing but static filing the room as Devine then started to laugh in amusement, Sendak scowling at her.

"What?" he questioned with a growl, storming over to the prone female. "What do you find so funny?"

"Your _death_. Since victory is no longer possible for you~." she purred in amusement at the angry commander, Shiro feeling a chill from her far too amused voice.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Pidge watched carefully as the Galra electrocuted, yet his hostage, Kylzap seemed unfazed by the electricity as his chest glowed red before diming quickly as the electric surge passed him. The Ausrian looked relived as he looked at the green paladin swooping down with the Galra drone, Rover.

"You're the one causing all this trouble? A _child_?" Haxus hissed as the massive shock had weakened him, Galra genetics where not what they once were as he fell to the ground in poorly concealed pain, his nerve endings fried.

"I'm not a child. I'm a Paladin of Voltron." Pidge declared proudly with her Bayard drawn. Only for Haxus to laugh as he slowly stood up.

"Let me tell you something, _paladin_." He drew his sword sluggishly, chuckling as he looked down at the ' _paladin'_. "I'm a soldier of the Galra Empire. Nothing stops me but triumph or **_DEATH!_** " he yelled charging at Pidge, only to have her doge his sluggish attacks, only to fire her bayard at him. Haxus sees it coming and grabs the weapon just behind its V shaped hook, capturing the access length around his sword before yanking the green paladin off her feet

Pidge gripped her bayard tighter only for her feet to leave the walk way and smash into the control panel, not too far from a still Kylzap.

"Nowhere left to run. Nowhere left to hide." Haxus smirks as he raises his sword, trying to pick the spot that would hurt the most. Only a beeping noise distracts him as he looks at an incoming drone, that rams into his face.

"Agh!" Haxus cries out in pain, distracted long enough for Pidge to knock him off balance with the rope form her bayard. The Galra struggles to regain his balance as Kylzap kicks his leg off of the catwalk, desperate for a hand hold; he grabs the drone floating over him.

"Rover!" Pidge yells in fear as she watches her precious drone sink lower and lower, being dragged down with the enemy, Haxus hanging on for his life before he sees the drone deactivate.

" ** _NO_**!" Haxus cries as he fell to his death, and Pidge tried in vain to save her robotic friend as she watch both fall into the far off floor of the room.

"Lion warrior?" Kylzap called to her, looking confused and worried.

"Don't worry, I'll cut you lose." Pidge tried to assure him as she used the tip of her bayard to cut at the little alien's restraints and help him up. "Are you okay? That electric shock could have killed you." She noted as Kylzap smiled and pulled out a crystal clear gem that was quickly tuning into dust.

"The protection of The Lion Goddess." He told her before the dust itself disappeared, making Pidge frowned in confusion."Okay? Do me a favor and get out of here." She told him sternly but the Arusian shook his head. "No! I will not leave the **_TRUE_** Lion Goddess in the claws of evil!" he yelled, looking determined. She opened her mouth to speak only to hear Sendak's voice coming from the console.

" _Haxus, report in!"_

Pidge frowned at the voice before storming over to the council to answer him. "Haxus is gone, and you're next!" She yelled angrily before she heard someone chuckle, but it didn't sound like the Galra. "You've slowed me down, but this ship is _mine_! You will turn yourself over _immediately_!" Sendak growled as Pidge huffed.

" **NEVER!"**

"' _At a girl, Pidge~."_

Pidge froze as she heard Devine's voice before she chuckled with amusement. _"Shut your mouth, princess."_ Sendak hissed in annoyance, Pidge felt a cold chill run threw her body. Wondering how close Devine was to the Galra, having seen him restrain her himself when he first captured them.

The sound of cracking electricity was heard over the com before Devine spoke up. _"That doesn't even tickle Sen_ ** _dick_** _. Care to try again?"_ Pidge's jaw dropped in shock as she heard the Galra growl before the crackling stopped. _"Well, then, maybe the_ ** _Champion_** _can convince you both."_ Pidge heard the sound of deep growl, sounding more animalistic then the Galra's before Shiro spoke up with an unhappy hiss.

 _"What do you want?"_

 _"Your friend wanted to hear from you."_

"S-shiro?" Pidge stuttered nervously, worried for the older male, and unsure of Lance and Devine's conditions, especially with the older woman's strange behavior.

" _Pidge!? Pidge! Don't listen to-AGH!"_

"No!" Pidge cried out as she heard the crackling and Shiro's cries of pain. Finding it slightly strange the older woman didn't seem to feel the electricity being pumped into her body. _"Sen_ ** _dick_** _."_ Pidge heard Devine growl, the woman sounding very angry, before the young girl looked down at Kylzap who was smiling brightly for some strange reason only to realize the Galra now only had two injured paladins and a _pissed_ _off_ Devine as his hostages. If the letter her father wrote to her was right...

Sendak was as good as dead.

 _"You can make it stop. Turn yourself in. His suffering is in your hands."_

Sendak warned as she heard Shiro moan in pain but Pidge heard something like knuckles cracking as well. "Take care of Shiro and Lance, Miss. Devine." Pidge smirked before hearing the older woman chuckle in amusement before the line cut off.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Sendak grew confused at the small paladin's words before Devine shut off the communication line, having _convinced_ her into fixing it for him, he assumed she knew and was just stalling by pretending she didn't know how the castle's systems worked.

"P-pidge..." Shiro called out that name again as the Galra commander's prosthetic arm had a crushing hold on him. "I'm impressed that you managed to escape the druids at all. It may be worth a trip to your planet, see if any more of your kind are just as _spirited_. Of course, they will all end up broken, just like you."

Shiro's body went cold at the mention of Earth but somehow felt relived as he heard Devine chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Sendak growled as the black paladin felt the Galra squeeze him tighter. Shiro didn't need empathy to feel the commander's fear, glancing at Devine he could see some black mist surrounding her, much like the time she banned Coran from the kitchen, only she gave a rather disturbing grin that reminded him of a horror film.

"You have no hostage _Sendick_ ~." She purred in amusement and Shiro wondered if she expected him to break the commander's hold with his hands cuffed behind his back and being forced to kneel by the sheer weight of the massive arm weighting on him.

"I have the _Champion_ , I could easily just snap his neck." Sendak hissed, getting tired of her saying his name wrong. "Go ahead." Devine said casually, shrugging her shoulders carelessly as both the Galra and Human looked at her with wide disbelieving eyes.

" ** _WHAT!?"_** Both shouted at her in shock as she looked relaxed, arms crossed over her chest. "Try and snap his neck. Humans are surprising creatures. You never know exactly what their capable of, especially the young ones." She smirked strangely as Shiro briefly questioned her sanity as he felt Sendak loosening his grip on him.

"How can you- _AGH_ ** _!_** " Sendak's hold on Shiro nearly disappearing as the Galra growled, looking behind him at the blue paladin who leveled his recently fired blaster at the commander's back. "Pay back." Lance smirked at his distraction before falling back into unconsciousness. Shiro's eyes widen as he realized what happened, taking this chance to knock Sendak off his feet with a low leg sweep, just as Devine pulled out a small dagger that glowed lavender, extending into her katana...

In one swift movement, Shiro's shackles where cut in half, freeing his arms, before the Galra was even on his back, looking up the tip of the katana, pass the abyss black blade and into dead yellow eyes. Eyes that looked very familiar and terrifying as he gasped, feeling Devine's full weight on his chest.

" _Bastet_!?" he questioned in shock as he noticed the blade flinched at the name; something flickered in her yellow eyes that gave the commander an opening. Grabbing her leg with his real arm he slammed her into the black paladin, knocking them both across the room and into the wall as he got back on his feet.

"Miss Devine! Shiro!" Pidge called out to them as she stood in the entry way, bayard out and ready to take on the massive Galra.

" _YOU_!" the galra growled angrily, throwing his prosthetic arm out to grab the small paladin before she dodged out of the way quickly before running back down the hall, Sendak let out an angry growl and followed her, not noticing the green paladin hiding in a convenient little nook in the hallway.

Once he passed Pidge quickly ran into the room, spotting the older female slowly getting off their leader who seemed to have hit his head.

"Are you guys okay?" the green paladin asked worriedly as she noticed Devine hiss in pain as she put weight on the leg Sendak grabbed. "I'm fine. Shiro, how's your head?" Devine asked, trying not to put much weight on her injured leg as she looked at the dazed Black paladin, his eyes unforced as he looked at her with widening eyes, as if he was remembering something.

" _MOVE_!" Devine yelled suddenly as she pushed Pidge out of the way, the massive gauntlet snatching the older female, and yanking her away from the Paladins. "Miss Devine!" Pidge yelled in shock and horror as the Galra commander had her in his tight grasp. "Why are you helping them?" Sendak hissed in a strange tone as Devine glared at him, her eyes glowing like fire.

"Let her go!" Keith yelled as he summoned his weapon ready to fight Sendak, Allura and Kylzap right behind him as they stopped in the entry way, looking worried for the older female.

"Fools. Come any closer and the _Princess_ suffers." Sendak hissed as he gripped Devine harder, almost preventing her from breathing. " _Fight_." Devine breathes out quietly, Sendak's remaining eye widening in surprise as red phantom flames ignited around her body, forcing Sendak to release her or be burned alive. Keith comes at the Galra with his sword, the paladin dropping the red orb that rolled into a half kneeling Devine, who was starting to sweat and pant heavily.

The Phantom red flames ignited over her upper arms, shoulders, upper thighs and hips, taking on the appearance of stripes as the fire burned away her jacket, then the back of her shirt to expose a glowing red Voltron insignia.

Everything was a blazing red blur, her golden eyes tried to focus, a red lion cub and tiny green cub where captured by a large, dark marron hyena. The heat turning up as Devine felt her teeth lengthened, giving a snarling growl of warning. Something was threating her _cubs_ , a destressed mew reaching her ears

' ** _MOMMY!'_**

With a loud roar of rage Devine pounced at the Hyena, sharp blood red claws sunk into the tender tendons in the wrists, twisting the arm in an unnatural angle until the red cub could escape the predator's clutches. The Hyena still holding the small green cub before Devine squeezed tightly as the metal appendage collapsed under her grip into a molten mess. The green cub was free and scurried away to a purplish gray lion, allowing _Mommy_ to take care of the intruder.

The Hyena seemed scared and shocked before becoming horrified as the woman's teeth nearly sunk into his throat, kicking her in the stomach to create distance, sending her flying backwards towards the cubs and the purplish gray lion, a pink lion carefully running around the perimeter of their fight to something. Devine coughed as she landed on all fours, ignoring the sharp pain in her hind leg and the mewing from one of the cubs for the moment.

Rushing at the Hyena, dunking under the melted mass of a fist before her claws glowed red, trusting into the Hyena's gut, sharp claws cutting threw his armor and skin, as red sparks fired nearby organs. Devine felt something cold spill onto her bare skin, and a familiar irony scent in the air made her purr with glee, she looked the _Hyena_ in the eyes before whispering something into his ear.

 ** _"Never mess with my cubs."_**

* * *

A.N: Yay! Chapter 5 is re-written! added a few things and took somethings out. Hope yall enjoy. This story is also on AO3 with more mature content added to some chapters as does not allow it.


	7. Chapter 6, Blood, Lust, and Affection

_**Self Insert: Dark Abyss**_

The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders!

 _ **WARRING!: Mentions of self harm, bullying, groping, sexual situations, and child abandonment.**_

* * *

 _ **~Chapter 6, Blood, Lust, and Affection~**_

 _Sparkling amber eyes ran across the printed characters, her mind processing the characters into words and the words into sentences that made up the tale of a neglected boy whom was finding out about a world full of magic that had been awaiting his arrival._

 _The eyes belonged to a rather chubby little girl of 9 years old with dark brown hair pulled back into a single braid, dressed in a white blouse and black plaid jumper just like all the other girls in her class, only they were off on the other side of the room, playing with Barbies and other girly stuff, while on the other side of the room the boys sat in a circle, playing Dare or DARE. The chubby girl was in between the two groups, quietly reading at her desk as the teacher graded the young children's work at her desk, keeping an eye on the rowdy boys making nothing but dares._

 _The little girl smiled as she imaged the story in her head, seeing it all threw the young boy's eyes as he saw a small portion of the magical world that welcomed him as a hero, and didn't shun him or call him a freak like his relatives did._

" _ **Anna, I Love you!"**_

 _Frowning the little girl was snapped out of her imagination as she glared down at a little boy her age, hugging her leg for a few seconds before letting go to rejoin the group of snickering boys who watched with amused smiles at the 'confession'._

 _The teacher noticed the commotion from her desk as the little girl just rolled her eyes before going back to her book, ignoring the sudden and insincere, confession from one of the boys that usually made fun of her for being so different._

 _Yet it wasn't long before she got to the part about the boy getting his first wand did she feel a hand on her shoulder. She looked up from her book in annoyance as the boy's lips smashed hard into her lips in a quick 'kiss' before he turned away and vigorously wiped at his mouth in disgust._

 _The other boys laughed at his misfortune._

 _It was then the teacher intervened as the little girl blushed bright red with tears to swelling up in her eyes, the boy having stolen her first kiss just because of a stupid dare._

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Devine gasped as her eyes opened wide, seeing nothing but a glowing teal color, feeling chilly air surround her body in a light flurry that didn't seem to last on her over heated body. "W-where am i?" she asked out loud, reaching out fearfully as her finger tips felt cool glass like texture just an inch from her face, setting of a fearful reaction as her elbows hit the concave sides of whatever container she was in.

"Hello? C-coran? Allura? S-shiro?" she called out, as tears gathered in her eyes as her nails scrapped the lid of her prison. "S-sendak?" she tried the Galra's name but was still trapped in the small coffin like container. "A-anyone?" she cried out desperately, clawing at the lid slowly before it turned transparent and she could see a familiar face as the teal glass dissipated into colorful sparkles.

"Miss De-ah!" Pidge choked as Devine had a vice like grip on the paladin. "Katie! It's really you! You're here! Thank the _STARS_!" Devine gushed happily as white and pink sparks erupted from the older female as she gave the younger one a bone crushing hug. "Can't... breath..." Pidge managed to breathe out as she felt the woman loosen her grip, allowing her to breathe in but not letting her out of the tight hug.

"You really... don't like small spaces." She voiced as Devine shook her head as she rested her chin on the small paladin's shoulder, Pidge felt the older woman exhaling hot air behind her back as there was warm pink sparks forming hearts between them as they fell into an awkward silence for a few ticks. "Um? How are you feeling?" Pidge asked unsurely as she let the woman hug her as they stood infornt of the healing pod Devine had been in. "Coran said your fever would go down after a few... varga? Whatever that is." The paladin awkwardly supplied as Devine answered her.

"A Varga is roughly little more than one Earth hour. Is… everyone alright?" Devine asked, slowly letting go of Pidge who seemed relived the woman wasn't hugging her anymore, okay with her hands gently resting on her shoulders. "Yeah, Coran and Hunk got a new crystal and removed that weird purple one the Galra had. Lance is in a healing pod to take care of what you missed and the rest of us only had minor bumps and bruises but... the Arusians are calling _YOU_ , _The_ _Lion Goddess_ now."

Devine groaned as she ran a hand down her face, looking away from the young paladin as she bit her lip, wanting to ask but not to hear the answer.

"What was that?" Pidge asked curious as the older woman blushed once she looked down at the white healing suit she had been changed into. "Oh, don't worry, Allura changed you into that before putting you in there. Your clothes kinda... burned way with that... fire lion thing?" she asked curiously as Devine cringed, remembering fragmented images of her blood lust.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." She said unsurely, as Pidge shrugged her shoulders. "Dad warned me that you where kinda sadistic, but you wouldn't _really_ hurt anyone without good reason." Pidge mentioned her father as Devine sparked yellow, fearful of what else Dr. Holt had mentioned in his letter to his daughter, or the other letters he wrote.

"So what was with this thing?" Pidge asked as Devine noticed she held a severely cracked red orb that was still faintly glowing, the lion symbol no longer inside of it.

"It's... something I call a Lion Orb, a physical manifestation of two conflicting emotions." She explained simply crossing her arms over her chest. "Pidge, you think you can fetch me some clothes to change into?" she asked the young girl who was looking at the orb in curiosity. "So, this is a manifestation of your anger? But it's the wrong color, you spark gray when your angry." She pointed out as Devine sighed. "It's not really anger per say... more like, um?" Devine tried to think of a better description for her _**Blood Lust.**_

"Detestation?"

"Yeah. Let's go with that." Devine agreed quickly, not sure how to explain it to a normal(ish) teenage girl who had a genuinely, loving family.

"So why did it crack? It feels like a Balmera crystal." Pidge asked as she carelessly dropped the fragile looking ball, not expecting it to actually shatter once it reached the floor. "Quiznack!" Pidge cursed in shock as she saw the orb fragments turn colorless as red mist traveled into Devine's body, making the older female gasp and shutter a sigh as she felt the other emotion associated with the red color...

 _ **Desire~.**_

"I-I'm so sorry... Miss Devine?" Pidge called her worriedly as Devine calmly breathed in and out before giving Pidge a soft smile.

"It's okay; I'll let that little curse word slide this time if you get me some spare clothes. I'm... not very conferrable in anything skin tight." She explained to Pidge who nodded and left the healing room, Devine let out a sigh of red mist as her face blazed red. "Calm down, you can get thru this. You have control and decades of self discipline on your side. Not to mention a whole castle to stay far away from Shiro's sexy ass, and Keith's cute little-AGH!" She cried out, shaking her head of the rather, _suggestive_ , fan art she had seen of the two paladins back in her world.

"Quiznack~ Keith's probably still innocent. No way can Shiro still be a virgin, not with those looks but..." Devine bit her lip hard enough to bleed as her skin glowed bright red. "He doesn't seem like he would just..." Devine shuttered as a suppressed memory that came forth.

" _ **WHORE!"**_

"NO! It's natural for guys to fuck around with girls. He's probably had a few pregnancy scares or even..." Devine's red glow dimed as she was reminded of her high school crush. "Has a child already back on Earth, or at least his parents if anything. Dr. Holt never mentioned him having a girlfriend or... boyfriend." she reasoned as the burning desire dimed sparking blue as she looked around the room for a distraction.

"Lance?" Devine called out worriedly as she felt sadness coming from the pod next to the one she was put in, where the blue paladin was healing and dreaming of the home he had left back on Earth, then never seeing it again turned it into a chilling nightmare. " _No duermes bien, niño?"_ Devine asked softly in what little Spanish she remembered from her grandmother. Lance seemed to recognize it but the nightmare was still haunting him. _"Qué tal una pequeña canción para dormirse?"_ She asked again in Spanish, willing to sing if it helped soothe the Cuban boy's nightmares.

Devine huffed as she felt a little ridiculous talking to a sleeping Lance, before she breathed in and though of a soothing song that might help his dreams.

 _Twinkle, twinkle, little star_ _  
_ _How I wonder what you are_

 _Up above the world so high_ _  
_ _Like a diamond in the sky_

 _Twinkle, twinkle little star_ _  
_ _How I wonder what you are_

 _When the blazing sun is gone_ _  
_ _when there is nothing to light the night_ _  
_ _It is when your light shines bright_

 _Twinkle, twinkle, thu the night_ _  
_ _Twinkle, twinkle, you shine so bright_

 _You will be our guiding light_

 _Twinkle, twinkle, little star_

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Thanks for getting my clothes Pidge, but... where's my necklace?" Devine asked as she changed into a lavender tank top, gray slacks, and a backup black jacket, only nervously covering her neck with her left hand, Pidge looked at her in confusion.

"Coran has it. He said it looked like something from Altea so he's looking it to find out if it is. Where did you get it from?" she asked as Devine frowned, snuggling into her hoodie to hide her neck. "It was a gift from someone very dear to me. Do you know where is he is now? I would like it back." She asked the green paladin who shook her head. "Nope. Sorry. Not a clue." She admitted as Devine was suspicious of the young girl's words but brushed it a side as she reached out for Coran's Quintessence, finding the male Altean just a floor above them, in the library.

"No worries, I found him. Thanks again, Pidge." Devine gave the paladin a soft smile before leaving the healing room as Pidge adjusted her glasses to catch a glare that hid her eyes.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Coran?" Devine called out to him as she walked into the ships Library, much like the rest of the castle it was white with teal lights, elegantly decorated and tall shelves filled with books with rolling ladders to help shorter patrons reach the top shelves, most books were written in Altean, few where written in other languages but, even fewer in Galra.

Walking past the short maze of book shelves, she reached the center where a large round table was surrounded by five couches, each matching a lion except for the maroon and gray couch that had numerous over stuffed lavender and black pillows creating a comfy looking nest. Situated right across the table from the couch was a small podium where Coran was looking threw a physical book... the necklace in his gloved hand.

"Find anything yet?" She asked, lifting up her neck a little to expose the long thin scar across her neck that the necklace usually hid. The Altean glanced up at her voice for a tick before he glared down at the book in frustration.

"Nope, it seems someone tore a few pages out of Queen Amora's gift registry. Literally!" He informed her as he showed her the remains of the ripped pages. Devine carefully taking the book to flip through the pages, seeing illustrations of gifts along with the names of the ones who gave and received the gifts, where they lived, the occasion, and their reaction to said gift upon receiving it.

"The Queen keep a Gift Registry? Why?" Devine asked, stopping at the familiar image of a little Galra helmet that was given to Allura as a baby. "To make sure no one gets the same gift twice, unless they wanted more of it, but gifts were usually given among the leadership of Altea and her allies. Ah, I remember that one..." Coran pointed at the helmet, a frown under his mustache as his eyes glared at the reminder that Zarkon had once been a dear friend to King Alfor.

"It was a gift from Zarkon, but why a Helmet? Kinda seems... boyish for a baby girl." Devine pointed out, not needing to read the name written in Galra to know whom the gift giver was, curious about the Atean's response as he sighed, but seemed to remember something fondly a he twirled his mustache.

"Yes it is, but the helmet was actually a gift from Princess Bastet, of Planet Daibazaal." He informed her as Devine recognized the two names, but not together.

"Princess Bastet? You can't mean Daibazaal. As in the Galra home world, Daibazaal?" she questioned as Coran looked at her in shock. "Um? Coran? You okay?" she questioned as the Altean advisor stared at her and then at the necklace in his hand, then back up at her with disbelief. "Miss Devine, how old are you?" he asked carefully as she looked at him in confusion, before answering him.

"Um? About 25, 26 years maybe, why?" she asked as he narrowed his eyes as her as he placed the warm necklace on her forehead, fixing her hair so that some of it lay over her forehead as the rest waterfalled down her back with some small strands falling over her pointed Altean ears. "I-it can't be... Miss Devine what is your earliest memory?" he asked urgently as Devine cringed at the question. "Waking up to a Galra Druid?" she supplied a half truth, still unsure if her old body had really traveled with her _Quintessence_ into this world, or if she had been born into a new body which raised even more questions.

"How long ago was that?" he asked as she felt his nervousness and a strange glint of hope. "I... don't really keep track. You're not thinking that might be this princess." she scoffing at the idea that _she_ could have been the princess, let alone an unknown galra princess.

"That Galra kept calling you princess, and you have a _Luxite Circlet_ , much like the one King Alfor and Queen Amora had made for her as a gift. She- you where just a little ankle bitter back then." Coran explained with sad fondness as Devine felt his hope grow dangerously high. She carefully pulled off the necklace from her head to look at it.

"Coran... I was given this as a reward for enduring some brutal training. My teacher, Master Ulaz, said he found it on a swap moon and gave it to me. As for Sen _dick_ , he... he was planning on using me to... breed." She explained as she looked away uneasily as she carefully griped Ulaz's gift to her. "The princess you're thinking of... is most likely dead." She sadly informed the Altean who sighed as all hope drained from him.

"Yes, she is. Has been for the last 10,004 years I believe." He admitted, painful sadness made Devine cry in empathy as her eyes widen in curiosity as tears ran down her cheeks, Coran holding back his own. "What happened?" she asked as the Altean hesitated, letting out a sigh. "It was a dark time in Altean and Galra history, I would dare say it was what drove Honerva and Zarkon to their own deaths... losing your children at such young and promising ages isn't something I would wish to happen ever again."

"Children?" Devine questioned as her mind went to Lotor, questioning if he was alive before Coran nodded.

"Yes. Bastet was their first born baby girl. A curious, and impish little tyke who always got into a lot of trouble. She was so excited to have a younger sibling but... their son was very ill when he was born, and he perished within his first few varga of life." He told her as Devine cried the tears Coran wanted to at the moment. "But that didn't stop little Bastet from declaring Allura her new little sister. Ah~ the trouble those two caused together." Coran drifted off before noticing Devine's tears.

"Miss Devine are you alright!?" he asked as the young woman brushed them away. "Yeah, I'm an Empath remember. I can feel the love and sadness you have just from telling me about Princess Bastet." She gave the older Altean a sad smile, but was curious about what happened to the Princess.

"How did she die?" she asked and Coran looked nervous and sad.

"It's a curious tale, we never really found out what did her in. The trauma from losing a bonded mate alone would be enough to cause even the strongest of hearts to crumble; topping it off with over exposure to quintessence does not give one much a chance for survival, let alone a desire to." He informed her as Devine felt a cold chill come over her as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Yeah, and I bet corrupted quintessence doesn't feel much better." She admitted as she felt herself become warmer as Coran seemed surprised about something. "Oh you poor dear, are you going into _Heat_?" he asked worriedly as she blushed, biting her lip.

"I-it'll pass in the next Varga or so Coran, but... I might have a chat with Sapphire about icing me for a bit. The pods don't really help with this kinda thing." She told him with as she reached out to find the Paladins she needed to avoid, clipping her necklace back on to hide the evidence of a failed suicide.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"I should have gone to the main deck first." Devine muttered to herself as she could feel the two paladins leaving Ruby's hanger. "I could have at least had a little fun on one of the speeder bikes." She sighed at the lost opportunity before she saw the walk way that led to Ruby's docking bay in one of the castle's thruster-towers. Quickly hiding behind a convenient out cropping that lined the halls, Keith and Shiro walked out the doors talking about her. "You think Miss Devine is gonna be alright?" Keith asked the older paladin worriedly, feeling guilty for some reason as she listened in curiously.

"Of course. Coran assured us it was a just fever. She and Lance will be fine after a little bit of time in the healing pods." Shiro tried to assure him, but Keith still looked unsure as they nearly reached Devine's hiding spot, carefully levitating a little above their heads to avoid being detected as she watched them with mild interest. "Are you forgetting she turned into a flaming lion and mauled Sendak, with her bare hands!" Keith asked feeling a bit scared and unsure as Devine looked at her nails and gave them a sniff, the familiar scent of Galra blood reaching her nose making her frown.

"Yeah, that was kinda scary, but she looked more like a lioness protecting her cubs. To be honest, I think she sees you and the others as her little cubs." Shiro mentioned with an amused smile, Devine blushed at the partial truth being said out loud. "We're not babies, Shiro. You, Pidge and I could have handled Sendak all on our own." Keith responded with a pout as Shiro chuckled. "Maybe, but I she would have still gotten her claws on Sendak anyway. It... just may not have been as gory as ripping his other eye out if we had." Shiro mentioned as Devine let out a low growl.

' _I would have castrated him with my blade.'_ she though just as Shiro froze in shock, his dark eyes going wide as the blood drained from his face, Keith looked at the older paladin in confusion. "Shiro? Something wrong?" he asked carefully, Devine peeking out from her hiding place to look at the two, only seeing Shiro's back as Keith faced him with Devine's blade clutched in his right hand in its dormant dagger state.

' _My Blade!'_ Devine thought as she touched the small of her back, not feeling the familiar handle present.

"Miss Devine?" Shiro called out to her, looking around the hall in front of him, and then behind him just a second after Devine took cover in her hiding place again. _'Quiznack! '_ She cursed in her mind, still confused as to how Shiro could hear her thoughts at random moments without Obsidian's intervention.

"There's no one- is that a tail?" Keith asked sounding surprised and confused as Devine looked down to see the furry appendage sticking out from her hiding spot. The stripes and tuff of fur at the end glowing like a dark pink beacon. "Miss Devine are you... hiding from us?" Shiro asked as Devine sensed him walking over to where she was, making her face glow bright red.

"Are you feeling okay? You're glowing red again." He asked, stopping a few steps away, unsure of what she would do if he came closer. "Y-yeah, just running a little... _hot_." She told him, her tail wiggling as she could smell the Black paladin from where he was, Shiro's natural scent was alluring enough on its own but with Keith's scent adding a tempting spice to it.

" _ **Sheith?"**_ she questioned out loud in another language, picking up on the red paladin's oddly spicy scent on Shiro's clothes. "What?" Shiro questioned in confusion as Devine blushed, Keith just being confused and ignorant of how delectable he smelled to her on his own.

"I-it's nothing." She assured him and sunk to the floor, her back making the wall heat up from her embarrassment and... felt a cool, metal hand gently cup her forehead. "You're burning up; maybe you should get some rest until it comes down." Shiro suggested worriedly as he felt his prosthetic heat up just from touching her.

"How much can you feel with this?" Devine asked grabbing his wrist to keep his strangely cold hand where it was as she ginned, exposing her sharp fangs as an idea popped into her head. "Ah? I'm not sure. I can feel how hot you are right now but it's pretty obvi-US!" Shiro shouted and blushed as Devine had pulled his hand away from her forehead, and down to her mouth, where she bit the index finger of his Galra arm.

"Did you feel it?" she asked, smirking up at him as she sparked green with red mist. Shiro noticed her voice had become slight higher and the pupils in her golden eyes expanded as they locked onto him. The black paladin blushed but was still confused, and nervous, about what the woman was doing with his arm.

"N-no, I really think you should take something for that- _DEVINE_!" he yelled in shock as his face exploded bright red. Shiro tried to pull his arm away from the woman's firm grasp, but failed to keep it from traveling any lower down the woman's body. As she placed his hand over one of her covered breasts, the fingers of the prosthetic curling slightly, sinking into her soft bosom. Red mist traveled up his arm, migrating across his chest and head before the blood in his face started to flow downward steadily.

"How 'bout _meow_ ~?" she purred seductively as the black paladin felt the tip of her tail brush something that was very sensitive at the moment, making Shiro yank his wrist free from her hold as he stumbled backwards a foot or two as he stared at her is disbelief.

"Shiro? What's... wrong?" Keith tried to ask as his eyes widen in confusion even more as he saw Devine pounce on Shiro like a lion, pushing the black paladin flat on his back as she pined his arms to the floor, sitting on his stomach with her legs at his sides, a gleeful grin on her lips and tail swaying behind her in amusement.

This sent a spark of panic threw the young paladin as he felt that his leader was in terrible danger.

"Don't you dare hurt him!" Keith yelled as he held the woman's own blade to her neck, narrowing his eyes at her as she froze in fear, only Shiro noticed her pupils contracting back to normal as her grip on his arms weakened. "I'll cut you with your own blade if you don't get off him _right now_." The red paladin threatened protectively as Devine blinked in confusion before her mouth dropped open in a startled gasp as she quickly let go of Shiro's arms as she shot up quickly into the air as her face glowed red.

"Oh, Stars! I'm so sorry Shrio." She apologized as she curled her tail around her waist as her ears dropped down, floating about two feet off the ground to let the black paladin get to his feet as she tried to focus on something else besides Shiro's scent, and her amplified _desire_ making her body brun.

"I-it's alright Miss Devine... but, what was that?" he asked, confused and a bit aroused as he looked away from her in embarrassment, Keith however narrowed his eyes at the woman. "It was because of that orb thing wasn't it?" he asked as Devine started to chew on her nails, the taste of Galra blood calming her down a little. "Kinda, but this is... the opposite of what happed with Sen _dick_."

"What could possibly be the opposite _mutilation_?" Keith asked, unnerved by Devine's lack of concern about the sharp blade to her neck, not seeing Shiro blush a deep red as the answer came to him as soon as Devine looked at the younger paladin, her pupils expanding as she eyed Keith hungrily, licking her lips like a ravenous predator.

" _Want to find out_ ~?" Devine purred as Keith took a defensive stance, the seductive tone going unrecognized by the young paladin.

"Keith! No!" Shiro tired to warn as he scrambled to get up to stop them only to be frozen in disbelief and horror. Keith attacked the woman with her own weapon, only for Devine to easily avoid the blade as she floated in midair and grabbed Keith's right hand first before she wrapped her dominate arm around the younger male's waist. Pulling him flush against her body tightly, pining his feet down with her own as her right hand slipped under his black t-shirt and up his spine before slowly traveling back down and over the red Paladin's jeans to squeeze one of Keith's firm ass cheeks.

Only Shiro couldn't tare his eyes off their connected lips, Keith looked both confused and embarrassed as his eyes where wide open with his face burning red. The young man feeling the woman's soft breasts pressing into his chest, her hips slowly grinding into his own as he could feel some warm tingling sensation travel up his spine before feeling it come back down, slowly, with a pulse of blood being sent down to his groin, gasping at the feeling of the sharp claws threatening to rip the back of his pants. The woman's slick, warm tongue then ravaged his mouth and lightly bit his bottom lip.

Devine smirked as she felt Keith's hold on her blade loosen, but the desire to grasp his hidden _blade_ arose as she felt it pressing into her lap before the clang of her blade dropping to the floor brought back her senses, pulling away from the red paladin as if he was actual fire, letting him fall back onto the floor, red faced and panting for air as he struggled to process what she had done to him.

"Quiznak." She hissed as she slapped a hand over her face in shame, feeling a shock with hint of anger coming from a nearly forgotten Shiro.

"D-devine? Did you just... _molest_ Keith?" he questioned unsurely, gulping nervously as he saw her ears lay flat on her skull and tail tightening around her waist as she produced yellow and blue sparks. "I-I've got to go chill out with Sapphire for a bit." She told him before hastily picking up her blade before running towards the blue lion's hanger urgently.

Shiro wanted answers from her but he looked at Keith who groaned in frustration, his face starting to match the color of his Lion as he placed his hands over his eyes. "What the Quiznak was that Shiro!?" the young man asked as the older male blushed, noticing Keith had also become noticeably aroused. "All I know is... we both need to take a long, cold shower." The black paladin suggested, looking down at his prosthetic arm in confusion, recalling the feeling of Devine's breast threw it somehow.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"SAPPHIRE! ICE ME, PLEASE!" Devine yelled as she entered the hanger, her skin burning a bright red before the lion's ice beam hit her, only to create fog that filled up the hanger quickly with the vastly different temperatures.

"T-thanks, Safy. You're such a good girl." Devine smiled at the lion, as her ember eyes glowed just like the Voltron Lion who purred in amusement. _'Tell me everything~.'_ The lion asked eagerly as Devine took in a calming breath, slowly exhaling before she confessed to the robotic beast.

"I ALMOST _**RAPED**_ SHIRO, AND I JUST _**MOLESTED**_ KEITH!" she yelled in a heated panic before the lion hit her with another ice beam to calm her down.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"The Lion Goddess burst into flames! Transforming into a powerful beast that ripped apart the evil invader! Defeating him and protecting the young cubs." Kylzap spoke to his village; they all looked to their new leader as he told them of Devine's mystical transformation and conquest.

"Ooh~!" they responded in aw before the ground shook, scaring the Arusians before they heard a familiar roar. They gasped in surprise as they looked up in admiration for the mighty blue lion slowly approached, lowering its head to let Devine out.

The Arusians promptly bowing low at the site of her.

"The Great and Powerful Lion Goddess has returned!" Kylzap yelled with excitement as Devine gave a nervous smile as she looked out at the sea of bowing Arusians. "Please Rise. I wish to see all Arusians to apologize for bringing destruction and calamity upon your village." She spoke loudly to all of them as they looked up carefully, confusion washing over the small creatures as she disembarked form the Lion.

"I'm here to see your injured and sick, first and foremost." She asked as the Arusians parted quickly, Kylzap eagerly approaching her. "Of course Lion Goddess, we are humbled by your kindness." He grinned, proudly displaying his pin of leadership that shined in the light.

"Calling me Devine will be fine, _Chief Kylzap_." She teased as the new Arusian leader nodded. "Our sick and injured where moved to the caves. Please come with me... _Devine Lion_." The Arusian addressed her before leading her to the missing Arusians.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Seriously? Is there nothing but food goo in this place?" Hunk asked as he was near tears, having searched the kitchen for anything that resembled food from Earth, or even some solid alien food. "Hunk, are you okay?" Devine asked as she walked into the kitchen with two hand woven baskets, concerned for the large paladin as he was slightly relived at the site of her.

"Miss Devine! Please help me! I don't want to be stuck eating goo for the rest of my life!" He asked the woman who gave him a soft smile as she held up the baskets in her hands. "I guess it's a good thing the Arusians gave me some non-gooey ingredients then." She chuckled and set the baskets down on the kitchen island as Hunk eagerly opened them, excited to see solid ingredients as he picked up a familiar smelling white block.

"Oh my gosh! Is this cheese?!" Hunk asked her as she smiled at his discovery, giving him a nod. "It's something similar, yes. Is there any chance you know how to make _Pizza_? I hear it's a very popular food on your planet." She asked carefully, not wanting to show that she was from Earth. The yellow paladin however looked at her with wide eyes as he gasped in realization, going thru the baskets to pull out more ingredients: squeezing, sniffing, and tasting what he could.

"No way! I can totally make pizza from this, ah? Wait a minute..." Hunk's beaming smile faded into confusion as he looked at the woman who let out a spark of yellow. "How do you know about Pizza?" he asked as Devine laughed nervously. "I discovered a little shop that sells a lot of things from Earth. Books, toys, games, movies, and lots of other little trinkets from your planet, I couldn't help but learn about such interesting creatures." She told him, half lying as the yellow paladin nodded in acceptance.

"That's so cool. You are gonna love Pizza! Hey! We can even have pizza party with all these ingredients~! " Hunk nearly drooled in excitement, as Devine was just as eager for Earth food as the he was.

"Sounds like a lot of work, mind if I help?" she asked, about to wash her hands to start helping, but Hunk put a firm hand on her shoulder. "No offence Miss Devine, but you seriously need a bath. Just leave all the cooking to me and you can enjoy a nice long bubble bath." The yellow paladin informed her as he gently escorted her out of the kitchen, Devine looking at herself, covered in dirt and dried sweat she had worked up while helping the Aurians rebuild their village. Putting the energy she received from the red lion orb to a more, constructive use.

"Sure, but leave the dessert to me. I've got an old Altean recipe I want to try." She informed him before leaving the kitchen to Hunk. Smiling fondly as she felt the excitement and joy pouring off of the lovable cinnamon roll for once.

' _At least now I can try out that massive tub~.'_ She grinned with glee as she floated happily to her room.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

" _Ohhh~ Stars,_ _this feels so good~."_ Devine purred as she sunk into the massive tub filled with nearly boiling hot water that fogged up her bathroom, light pink bubbles coating the surface of the water give off an unfamiliar floral scent as she sunk her body up to her collar bone in the water. Leaning back on the edge of the tub pool, her hair pulled up to keep it out of the water that was soothing the sore and over worked muscles of her body.

"I almost forgot how good a hot bath could be." She sighed closing her eyes for a moment as she just enjoyed the relaxing bath, feeling herself drift off and slowly sink lower into the water until she was completely submerged under the bubbles for a moment, before springing up quickly coughing up the water she inhaled.

"T-that was close. I can't die yet, and drowning in a hot bath is the stupidest way to go." She spoke to herself nervously as she tried to calm her racing heart, looking for something to occupy her mind. "Time to find out if those books are just for decoration." She mused, reluctantly getting out of the back to reach the books that sat innocently on a shelf, the steam seeming not to affecting them as the woman pulled out the first book, opening it.

"What's this?" she questioned, surprised to see that the book was really a storage box that had a tube of some Altean product she couldn't read. Putting it back to grab another book that didn't have anything on its cover, opening it she found the title.

" _ **A Lion's Prize**_? Sounds interesting, but why would it be in the bath- _oh~_." Devine questioned before she flipped thru the book before finding an illustration of three figures coming together, in a very _intimate_ way. "This is a _naughty~_ book." She purred happily, grinning eagerly as she sunk back into the tub _. 'All I need now is some white wine, and Shiro~.'_ She thought in amusement, blushing as she stared to read the first few chapters as she relaxed in the hot water for a few dobashes, becoming very engrossed with the fictional relationship between a maid and her master.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"I really needed that." Devine smiled happily as she ran a towel over her hair to dry it, making the white strands sparkle with color as the light shined above her head, the refractions from her hair created colorful diamond shapes around her body as she dropped the damp towel into her dirty laundry.

With her skin glowing pink as she walked out of her room dressed in a pair of black shorts and a lavender tank top, her legs covered only by black and purple striped stockings, leaving her jacket unzipped to cover her upper arms as she wore the necklace Ulaz had gifted her out of attachment for the kind Galra.

"Wonder how Hunk is doing with the-" she asked out loud before stopping as her ember eyes met the dark gray eyes of the Black paladin.

"M-miss Devine?" He called her name as the woman froze, his scent overwhelming her nose and making her body heat up rapidly, the fact that he was shirtless and covered in alluring sweat did not help her stay calm. "S-shiro!? Ah? W-what are you doing here?" she asked, blushing as she looked away, Shiro doing the same as he nervously looked at his shirt before hiding it behind his back with a dark pink blush coloring his face.

"Well... this is my room, and I wanted to ask Coran where the laundry room is." He told her as he glanced at his closed door in disappointment, looking for an escape route nervously. "The castle has an automated laundry service; just put your clothes in the hamper and it returns the clothes to your room within 5 dobashes." She informed him, but he was clearly confused and a little embarrassed.

"Miss Devine, our rooms don't have hampers. Also, ah? The rest of us didn't exactly pack extra clothes for an extend stay." He mentioned as he heard Devine gasp, risking a look at her he could see the genuine shock and degust on her face as it paled.

"It's... been 3 Quintents since y'all arrived... and all of you have been wearing _**the same clothes**_!?" she yelled as she realized they had not been wearing the same thing because they wanted to, but because they _**HAD**_ too. Shrio took a step back, confused by the slip of southern accent, becoming nervous as she narrowed his eyes at him.

"Let's fix that then." She announced firmly before closing the distance between them quickly, Shiro was slightly scared as the woman grabbed his Galra arm and pulled him down the hall with surprising strength, in the direction of her room. The black paladin gulped nervously as he felt his face burn red as they got closer to the woman's room...

Only to walk past it and be dragged into a room he hadn't seen before.

"What is this place?" he asked, looking around the room at the bolts of fabric taking up a large part of the room form floor to ceiling, then at the screen Devine had pulled up from what looked like a desk covered in sketch books, sketches of dresses, and what looked like pencils. The black paladin approached her from behind as she narrowed her eyes at the Altean characters that appeared on screen.

Experimentally, she pressed a few before Shiro's profile came up, making her smile with the progress.

"This was Queen Amora's sewing room, apparently the late Altean Queen liked to make her daughter's dresses herself. These books are filled with tones of designs of just dresses for Allura, and- here we go." Devine informed the confused paladin as she set the computer up to make Shiro a new set of clothes that where nearly identical to his own.

"In just a dobash, or two, you will have a fresh new set of clothes. Ah~ Altean tech is the best." She mused as she looked for the profiles of the other Paladins and setting the computer to work on clothes for the younger paladins.

Shiro looked at Devine in confusion before noticing something like a stage in front of the desk, and what looked to be the outline of his body was projected on stage, turning solid white before being draped with black fabric that was quickly sewn together into something that resembled his clothes. While he watched four more outlines appear on either side of his own, watching in aw as they created copies of the other paladin's clothes.

"Can it only copy clothes? Or can you make new ones?" Shiro asked as Devine messed with the controls a bit more, glaring at the Altean characters she could not understand. "Not sure, I think it works on sketches somehow." She mentioned, picking up one of the books filled with drawings of dresses, opening it to a page that had a beautiful dress that had long white sleeves and a long skirt that gradually turned into a deep purple with realistic star like patterns decorating it.

"This is beautiful~." She admired the dress fondly, but she could feel her heart constrict strangely as she did. "Well you do owe Keith a pair of pants." Shiro spoke from behind her, making the woman jump in shock, before trying to understand what the Black paladin had just said. "What?" she asked, looking up at the handsome leader who looked at all the sketch books with longing before looking at her with wide eyes, cheeks tinted pink.

"It was when you... _groped_ him; your claws ripped the back of his pants..." Shiro told her, blushing as Devine's eyes widen as she carefully recalled the moment. "Oh Stars." She responded with an embarrassed blush that Shiro found rather cute.

"I'm... so sorry about before. I usually have more self control then that." She admitted as she felt the paladin's confusion. "Did it have something to do with the orb Keith dropped?" he asked and she gave a shy nod, her face blazing red as she identified the alluring scent coming from the paladin who stopped hiding his black shirt/jacket thing behind his back.

' _Was he-? Oh, Stars!'_ She bit her lip, trying not to let her mind wander to the paladin's neither regions.

"Yeah, they usually contain potent emotions and... it set me off on Sen _dick-_ " she stopped at her habitual butchering of the Galra's name, her mind snapping to the _naughtier_ images she had collected of the Black paladin back in her world. Behind her, she could hear Shiro choke on his surprise, having somehow gotten at least one of the images transmitted into his mind.

"Um, maybe I should explain this to everyone at dinner? I've asked Hunk to leave the dessert to me." She told him as the copy of the black paladins clothes finished and the others where nearly done.

"Can you give Keith his? I don't think he's gonna trust me for a bit." She asked Shiro, not seeing his bright red face as he glanced at her for a moment. "Yeah, don't worry about Keith. He... doesn't get much affection." Shiro tried to explain the younger paladin's actions, not seeing her sad smile as he approached the stage to retrieve his new set of clothes only to freeze in confusion.

' _I'm the same way.'_ Devine thought, Shiro over hearing it as the woman left the room, leaving the paladin to ponder over her thoughts.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Oh no you don't!" Devine yelled as she quickly grabbed the large yellow mouse before he could get his paws on the ripe Juniberries that were harvested by the Arusians and given to her as a gift. The large mouse didn't struggle in her firm grasp as the others looked at her in confusion and disappointment.

"These are for a special dessert I'm planning. So no spoiling it for Allura or Coran, okay?" she asked the mice, giving them a wink as they chatted among themselves. Hunk looking at her from his spot washing the dishes he had used to make the makeshift pizzas. "Do they understand you?" he asked curiously as Devine set the yellow mouse down with his friends before she gave the chubby one a gentle pet on the head, making him squeak in enjoyment.

"I believe so, or at least the intent of my words. Interspecies communication is always a bit tricky." She smiled at the other mice who looked at her, concentrating on the small creatures she could feel their primal emotions of confusion and curiosity.

"I'm going to try and make a Juniberry pie, a favorite dessert of Altea. If your good little darlings, I'll be sure to leave you some pie as well." She told the mice who showed their surprise before squeaking happily at her choice, making her smile at their simple emotions, so pure and open about how they really felt.

"More Pie? Ha! That sounds great Miss Devine. Gonna need any help?" Hunk asked as he finished the dishes, drying off his hands as the woman shook her head. "No thanks, Hunk. I'm better at baking then anything. I'll be sure to not leave a mess but... you do know there's a dish washer right?" she asked, pointing to the Altean dish washer that wasn't much different from an Earth one besides achualy working better and cleaning the dishes.

"Yeah, I know. Washing them by hand just gives me something to do." He told her, frowning as she felt the yellow paladin become worried. "Lance is going to be fine; he'll be out of the healing pod and flirting with Allura just in time for dinner." She voiced but the large paladin was still worried as he looked at her with a helpless worried frown that made her heart constrict.

"It's not that, Miss Devine it's... The Balmera we got the crystal from." he admitted as she grew serious, frowning as she recalled Hunk and Coran's mission to get the crystal and back to the castle, leaving Shay to the wrath of the Galra, because they had no mercy.

"It's not doing well... is it." She asked, as Hunk shook his head. "Worse still is that the people, the Balmerans, don't even know how to be free... they can't even see the sky because the Galra have them mining the crystals so deep underground!" Hunk explained, the woman could feel his guilt and panic rise before she spoke up and extended her hand to gently rest on the yellow paladin's shoulder, blue mist slowly seeping into him.

"It's gonna be okay, Hun. We'll be paying them a visit soon enough, but it seems a little strange you're so passionate about this mission. Did something happen? Or was it someone?" she asked, a bit egger to hear about Shay from Hunk's mouth, especially when she felt a strange, warm sensation coming off of him as he blushed.

"Well... there was this rock named Shay who helped us get the crystal, and escape the cell the Galra threw us in." He started before looking away from the woman shyly, fiddling with his fingers in nervousness. "How about we bake while we chat. It will give you something to do, and we get to learn how to make Juniberry pie together." She suggested as Hunks eyes sparkled in excitement.

"That sounds like a great idea, Mom." Hunk innocently praised as Devine's eyes widen in surprise, pink sparks arched into hearts from where Hunk's shoulder connected with her hand. The woman was speechless and touched by the slip of the tongue; the yellow paladin didn't seem to notice it as he looked at her worriedly before she gave him a soft smile of assurance.

"Then let's get to baking." She and Hunk carefully read over the recipe, translating the ingredients and some instructions before trying to make the crust of the Altean dessert as the mice watched, speaking to each other as the larger life forms took great care in their work.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Is Lance out yet? Dinner is already getting cold." Hunk asked, placing his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath from his sprint form the kitchen, Devine floating behind him with the blue, red eyed mouse, Plachu, ridding on her left shoulder nibbling on a treat she had given him and the other mice.

Allura, Keith, Pidge and Shiro turned to look at the late arrivals as Coran was focused on the human's readings, looking a little confused. "Not yet, what's for dinner anyway?" Pidge asked curiously, ignoring Keith who narrowed his eyes at Devine as she approached Coran at the main terminal.

"How are his vitals?" She asked, not able to read the Altean characters at a glance as she examined the outline of a body that was on screen.

"He's doing quite well, but um? Are they supposed to have orbs in their chests?" He asked her quietly as Devine blinked in confusion before she realized what the Altean was referring to. "No. It's something I used to alleviate his more life threatening injuries. It would be best if he keeps it in case of something like this happening again. Human children can only be so flexible before they break completely." She informed him worriedly, looking at the blue spot on the character gently pulsate, like a heartbeat.

"Coran, do you have a ticker?" Allura asked the older Altean produced the requested item to start their ' _clock party'_. Devine gently smiling at them before the little mouse squeaked in her ear trying to get her attention.

"What is it Plachu?" she asked, not realizing she had said the mouse's name as it squeaked and pointed at the console, the little outline becoming full as there seemed to be a countdown to when the pod would open.

She smiled and turned to the others gathering around Coran and Pidge, as they tried to compare Ticks and Seconds, even Shiro was focused on the two time pieces.

"Yes! I think we're winning." Hunk exclaimed excitedly as Devine walked over to Lance's pod, not wanting to break up the entertained little group. "Winning what? The intergalactic time-measuring competition?" Keith asked sarcastically but he was just as interested in the competition as the rest of them. "Yes." Hunk answered the red paladin, as if it was obvious that human seconds where _faster_ than the Universally used ticks.

Devine was distracted more by the pod opening up, and the healed blue paladin stumbled out into her arms as she cradled him tightly to her chest. Quickly examineing him for any remaining injuries, finding none as he wrapped his arms around her, pink sparks arching into small hearts.

" _He muerto y he ido al cielo?"_ Lance asked in his native tongue, making Devine chuckle in amusement as she ran her fingers gently threw his chocolate locks that reminded the woman of her own hair, only not as soft or short.

" _No, niño. Todavía estás en la tierra de los vivos."_ She responded feeling the blue paladin smile at the familiar words. "Se siente así, abuela." He sighed before Devine let the Cuban boy fall to the floor at the unintentional insult, letting out a small cry that got the other's attention.

"LANCE!" Hunk yelled in happiness, picking up his friend from the floor to give him a big bear hug, Lance making a noise that sounded a lot like a squeaky toy. "What happened?" Lance asked, seeming to still be in a bit of a daze as Hunk had his friend's right arm over his shoulder, holding the lanky teen up on his feet.

"We can tell you all about it while we have dinner. Are you able to walk?" Allura asked, placing her hand on the cuban boy's upper back as a show of comfort only to have it work to well.

"Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date?" Lance asked, mustering up the energy to give the princess a sly smile. Allura's eyes widen at the suggestion, looking put off by it as she removed her hand to cross them over her chest and turn her back to him. Devine could feel amusement, annoyance and relief come from everyone in the room regardless.

"Yep. There he is." Pidge adjusted her glasses, relived by Lance's flirting.

"Yeah, he's okay." Shiro let his amusement show.

"Classic." Keith however looked away with his arms crossed, visibly not impressed but relived that the blue paladin was alright.

"Let's get you dressed first, got to look good for your _date_ right?" Devine suggested, picking up the folded copy of Lance's earth clothes as she smiled at the groggy Cuban. "Miss Devine, please don't encourage him." Allura pleaded with the older woman who shook her head in disagreement with a smirk.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"What smells so good?" Lance asked as he felt his stomach roar for whatever savory concoction that Hunk and Devine made for everyone.

"I'm not quite sure. They just said it was a popular food on your planet before Miss Devine threw me out of the kitchen." Coran informed him, sitting next to the princess as the other Paladin's took their preferred seats, the table covered with a red and white checkered table cloth, cups and plates set out but no sliver wear.

"Strange, they forgot to set out the sliver wear." Allura voiced, confused as the human paladin's racked their brains for what dinner could possibly be before they heard a scoff come from the kitchen door. Hunk coming in with two large round plates, held high to conceal the meal with Devine doing the same only floating to help her hide the food she carried on similar trays.

"That's because it doesn't require utensils, you eat it with your hands." Hunk hinted at gleefully as he came to the end with the Alteans, Devine happily taking the other closer to the recovered paladin who sniffed the air.

"Huh? Smells like-No way! Hunk, you didn't!" Lance asked excitedly as he grinned widely with excitement and Hunk and Devine placed the trays on the table, the human's gasping, eyes widening at the familiar site and salivating with anticipation.

"PIZZA!"The young Paladins yelled in glee before Devine brought down her second tray in front of Lance who choked back his tears as he saw the freshly made appetizers. "and Garlic Knots!" he added with a small sniffle. Grabbing one of the earth delicacies, taking a bite before the flavors hit his taste buds, making him freeze in shock.

"Lance? Are you okay?" Devine asked worriedly as the others had gotten their own slices of pizza only to stop and look at the blue paladin as tears slowly streamed down his face.

"I-I'm fine Miss Devine. It's just that... it tastes even better than the ones back home." Lance told her, smiling softly as he remembered the garlic knots he usually had back home, missing his family as his heart constricted, Devine feeling it with him.

"I'm sorry. I thought something from Earth would cheer everyone up, and Hunk said these where your favorite food too." She admitted, looking worriedly over the crying Cuban boy. No one said a thing remembering that Devine was an empath, able to feel all of their emotions. "Yeah, they are. Thanks, Miss Devine. Hunk." Lance wiped away his tears on his jacket, willing for them to stop as Devine picked up a garlic knot.

"Come on, let's _knot_ let all this food go to waste." She suggested as everyone looked at her with wide disbelieving eyes. "Did Miss Devine just make a pun?" Pidge asked as Lance smiled, holding back his amusement. "Yeah, we should eat while their still piping _knot._ " The Cuban boy added as he made Devine giggle at his response.

"Come on you guys, let's _knot_ get carried away here." Hunk jumped in with amusement, making the other two, snort in laughter. "I think that was for _knot_. You better _knot_ hog those Lance" Pidge supplied with a sly smirk at she joined them, snatching up a garlic knot for herself.

"Hey! Those are _knot_ for you." Lance shot back with a smirk as he playfully guarded his favorite food.

"Lance, the food is for everyone. Let's _knot_ be selfish." Shiro chimed in as they stared at him before bursting into laughter, the Alteans looking confused. "It's _knot_ that funny." Keith muttered from his place besides Shiro, who seemed to be the only one who heard him, as Keith blushed at his attempt.

"I don't get it." Coran voiced, looking at the Earthlings and Devine for some answers as Allura pouted in slight annoyance form not understanding what they were laughing about.

"I am _knot_ amused." She said with her firm and proper British accent making them all look at her before bursting out laughing at the princess's unintended pun.

"Alright everyone. Lets calm down now and actually eat some dinner." Shiro reasoned as everyone agreed and happily ate their pizza and garlic knots. Enjoying it with some juice made from the Arus's native fruits, while Coran, Shiro, and Devine enjoyed something a little stronger, yet not as potent as Nunvil.

The paladins talked about their world as Devine and the Alteans listened to them and in return Coran and Allura shared some stories of Altea with everyone before Devine quietly got up to fetch the special dessert.

"I remember the Summer Berry festivals; people from all over Altea would come to celebrate the harvest." Allura sighed in fondness of the memory of her family enjoying the festivities and food as Coran nodded in agreement. "Yes, it was a miraculous event. Especially that year you stained your favorite dress. Took Queen Amora and Bastet a whole varga to calm you down." He added fondly as Allura frowned in confusion at the second name.

"Bastet? Was she one of my hand maidens?" she asked as Coran became stiff and nervous. "Y-yes. I remember she ran all the way to the castle just to get you a clean dress to look presentable for the parade." He informed the princess but Allura still looked confused.

"Something wrong Allura?" Shiro asked with some concern as Allura frowned, trying to recall the handmaidens face. "I don't remember a Bastet in my encourage, and that name doesn't sound Altean either." She voiced her thoughts as Coran tried to think of another excuse.

"Maybe she was from another planet? On Earth, Bastet is the name of an ancient Egyptian lion goddess." Pidge added helpfully, also confused by the earthly name as the two Alteans eyes widen at the information. "A lion goddess? Coran, you don't think?" Allura looked at her advisor with hopeful eyes. "That Bastet somehow made it to their planet? No princess, I don't think that's possible." The older Altean regretfully crushing the young woman's hopes before Devine came back with dessert, looking worried as she carried something that looked very familiar to him.

Coran let out a gasp before Devine pressed a finger to her lips and gave him a wink, before looking down at a sadden Allura.

"N-no worries princess. I'm sure some Alteans survived, we are a durable race that's lived almost to the very beginning of the universe." He told her as Devine quietly floated to them, grinning as the princess closed her eyes in a sad sigh before opening them to see Devine place a plate of a very familiar dessert in front of her.

"Is that!?" she asked, gasping as she turned to the older woman who was giving her a soft smile, all four mice on her shoulders with lips stained red from _testing_ the Juniberriey filling.

"An Altean Juniberry pie, made by Hunk and myself?" the mice squeaked in her ears for their credit. "With the help of the mice too, I think we got the recipe down. The paladins aren't the only ones who are home sick Princess Allura. I thought a little taste of home would bring your spirits up too." Devine confessed as Allura took a deep breath and in haled the scent of the treat, egger to dig in.

"Just a moment princess!" Coran interrupted, tying a long table cloth length bib around Allura's neck before she could pick up her utensils. "There we go, don't want to ruin another dress. Enjoy." The advisor said with confidence as Allura glared at him as Devine and the Paladins tried to hide their amusement before trying the Altean dessert themselves.

"Mmmmm~" the whole room enjoyed the alien dessert, and it was gone as quickly as it came.

"That was simply wonderful~, but Miss Devine I'm curious..." Allura commented, blushing a little a she saw the bib was stained with juniberry juice, taking it off as she looked at the older woman who helped Keith with picking up the dirty dishes. "Why did you not include a dish from your home? Surely you miss your family as well."

She asked politely but Devine froze at the mention of her former home...

The room seemed to become colder as Devine turned her dull yellow eyes to Allura who flinched back in fear before she closed her eyes and gave the young princess a fake smile, disappearing into the kitchen after Keith.

As soon as the doors closed behind her, the room became warm again.

"Ah? Guys, what was that?" Pidge asked, confused and a bit scared by the odd reaction from the woman who was so kind and warm just a seconds ago. Shiro gulped uneasily as his brain tried to process more of the black, white, and red images he had seen.

"I don't know, Pidge, but I'm going to find out." Shiro narrowed his eyes walking into the kitchen to see a red faced Keith on the other side of the room from Devine who had her hand up just a little above Keith's height, looking genuinely surprised at the red paladin.

"What's going on here?" Shiro asked looking between the two with a slight frown.

"I was just... pat Keith on the head and he-"

"You called me _cubchoo_!" Keith yelled at her as she was still confused, she didn't feel the anger he was displaying but fear, sadness, and yarning for something. "Devine?" Shrio called her name as he looked at her with an understanding frown.

"Did you really call Keith, _cubchoo_?" he asked as she blinked in confusion.

"I... think so. What's wrong?" she asked, not sure what she said before patting Keith's head as he was about to wash the dishes by hand. She was aware of using a term of endearment, hun and sweetie being the ones she used most but she had let something slip past her lips, something that brought about darker emotions from the red paladin.

Shiro looked at Keith who looked shaken; Devine wanted to give him a comforting hug but knew it could just make things worse.

"My father used to call me _Cubchoo_ before... he abandoned me..." Keith admitted, glancing at Devine who's eyes widen, tears falling down her cheeks as she looked longingly at Keith, wanting to give him hugs and kisses and all the love she could.

"You two _are_ the same." Shrio realized as Devine stopped crying, blinking at she looked at the black Paladin fearfully, but he seemed more surprised and worried for the both of them.

"Miss Devine, you where abandoned by your parents too?" Keith asked uncertainly as he watched the woman take a similar stance to what he would when someone asked, or cared to ask him the question. Half turned away, arms crossed tightly across the chest, a slight scowl on her lips, looking down and away from anyone and everyone.

Shiro cringed as several images entered his head, a figure of a man walking away from a woman figure that stood next to him, holding his small hand in a painful vice grip. The man to walking into the arms of another female figure, the two kissing before the first woman figure clawed violently at the couple with blood red claws. Then he was looking at a woman's face, blood red lips pulled down in a frown before he saw the blood red claws come at his face, the feeling of sharp daggers racking across his cheek before he gasped for breath, looking up at a worried Keith and Devine.

"Shiro!? Shiro?! Can you hear me!?" Keith yelled loudly, making the older paladin's ears ring as he blinked rapidly to get rid of those images, at some point he had fallen on his back having experienced Devine being abandoned by her parents.

Keith's cries summoned everyone into the kitchen looking worried as Devine's hand glowed purple as it rested on Shiro's forehead, easing away the pounding in his ears.

"What happened in here?" Allura asked, concerned as she saw the Voltron leader laying on the floor with Devine's hand glowing lavender as it rested on his brow. Keith and Devine sharing a look before the woman spoke up.

"Shiro slipped on some water. Just making sure nothing got knocked out of place." She lied to them with a soft smile on her lips; Shiro looked at her with slight surprise along with Keith, only he frowned at how truthful it sounded as everyone seemed to believe her.

* * *

A.N. I will assume Allura is 16-17 or the Altean equivalent. Next chapter they should finally be getting off Arus, that or make a longer chapter, and I did by compressing some of the chapters and adding more to it. Enjoy!


	8. Chapter 7, A Feminine Touch

_**Self Insert: Dark Abyss**_

The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders!

 _ **WARRING!: Mentions of murder, suggestive adult themes.**_

* * *

 _ **~Chapter 7, A Feminine Touch~**_

"We had a bonding movement! I cradled you in my arms!" Keith argued with Lance about who had held him after the fight with the Galra commander, the blue paladin thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Nope. I remember being cradled by Shiro and _Miss Devine_ , but by you. I don't remember that, so it must have not happened. Whatever happened to the evil purple cat and his minion?" he asked as he pet the large yellow mouse, Platt, as he nibbled on a mouse treat that Devine had given the small creatures to try.

"Both where severally _injured_ , in the endeavor of taking back the castle. They are both frozen in a cryo-pods in the lower levels of the castle." Allura informed him, Devine feeling the disappointment coming from the princess, before her words registered in her mind. ' _Haxus survived?'_ She questioned as Lance looked worriedly at Allura. "You sure that's a good idea? Keeping them both in the castle?" he questioned, looking skeptical of the idea.

"They will not survive long outside the pods. Even an _**Altean**_ would have trouble healing from all the injuries those two have sustained. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from Sendak since he seems to have been high ranking." Allura informed him, as Devine frowned at the princess's uncaring dismissal of the two injured Galra.

' _Is she that angry at Zarkon that she would danm_ _ **all**_ _Galra?'_ She thought, letting Hunk's explanation about Shay fade to the background. _'Granted they did almost steal the Lions and the Castel. Their plan was good since the princess is still rather childish. Haxus didn't seem to survive the last time. Could there be small changes in this reality?_ ' Devine thought before she caught the tail end of Hunk's rant.

"It's time to man up!" Hunk yelled with passion and determination, Devine smiled as she felt his fear, but also felt his electric will power flowing from him. The image of Gyrgan, the former yellow paladin, and a young Rygnirathian came to her mind suddenly. "Then let's get moving, it's about time we get around to Defending the Universe." Shiro smiled confidently, not sounding like an order but regardless the other Paladin's and the Altean's followed his command. Devine's ember eyes on a worried Pidge who was hesitating about exposing her biggest lie.

"Wait! I-I have something to say first." she started and the group turned to her in confusion. "What is it _Pidge_?" Shiro asked a small smile on his lips as he assumed the girl would come clean to the rest of the group on her own.

"I need to come clean and... I'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me. Just so there are no secrets between us anymore." Pidge started but seemed to grow too scared to finish her confession. Devine walked over and placed a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder, blue mist seeping into the green paladin's body. The effects being almost immediately noticeable as Pidge became less tense, letting out a quick sigh.

"I can't _Man Up_... I'm a girl."She confessed to the others, but only Lance felt and expressed his surprise by the truth. "Huh! You're a _girl!?_ _HOW!?_ " the blue paladin asked in distress and confusion.

"I've known for some time, but I'm glad you've shared it with everyone." Allura admitted, a spark of glee coming from the princess to have another female in the castle. "Yeah, I figured." Hunk admitted with confidence as Keith shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "Oh yeah, me too." He admitted as Coran was confused, but for a different reason. "Wait. We were supposed to think you were a _boy?_ " the older Altean asked, having known Pidge was a girl the whole time, despite her unlady like manners. The green paladin was becoming more naturally at ease as Devine removed her hand from her shoulder.

"Boy or girl, your still Peridot's Paladin, _Katie_." Devine added teasingly, further startling Lance and confusing Hunk. "She's right. Owning who you are is only going to make you a better Paladin." Shiro encouraged with a kind smile as Katie let out a relived sigh.

"It's good to finally get that off my chest. Now, let's launch this Castleship!" She said in excitement, egger to see how the castle actually became a spaceship. "Wait, _what!?Pidge_ is a _girl_ and the Castle is a _ship?_ How long have I been out?" Lance asked a bit distressed with the new information. "Yeah and like, is Katie your real name? Or some kinda nickname? Because neither name sounds anything alike." Hunk asked, more for clarification then anything as Katie adjusted her glasses.

"My real name is Katie Holt, but you just keep calling me Pidge." Pidge grinned openly at her team mates who accepted her true self.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Everyone was gathered on the main deck, the paladins dressed in their armor as the room was looking like new with the uncorrupted, Balmera crystal lighting up and powering the castle. It glowed even brighter as the princess stepped onto the control platform underneath it, three screens appearing in front of her before two control towers rose up from the floor along with the Paladin seats trimmed in their lions' color, only Shiro's chair was purple.

The Paladins of Voltron took their seats with childlike amazement; Pidge seemed the most excited as screens appeared before her, displaying the status of the ship in a different language.

Devine felt a tinge of jealousy hit her heart as she saw that everyone had a place, Allura at the control center, the Paladins around her in their chairs closest to their lion's hanger, and Coran at the front work station while she stood back with three mice on her shoulders, gently petting the pink mouse, Chuchule, cradled in her left hand, almost falling asleep at the sensation.

She felt a small paw pat her cheek as she carefully looked at the large yellow mouse on her right shoulder who looked worried, giving a concerned squeak. "What is it Platt?" she used the Mouse's name again as it ran a paw down form it's closed eyes. Confused, she stopped petting the pink mouse and touched her cheek, feeling warm tears falling from her eyes.

"I'm... crying? Well, I do feel kinda out of place." She confessed to the mice as she looked at everyone with a sad smile. "After a certain point, I'll have to leave. I can do more good for the universe if I leave. They... they don't need me here." She closed her eyes slowly, feeling something familiar come over her, two voices echoed in her head, a man's voice and a child's voice; she didn't recognize either of them.

" _Do you want to fly Castel of Lions, Princess?"_

" _YES!"_

" _Ha ha! Alright. Come here and place your hands on the towers."_

' _What is this? A memory?'_ Devine questioned as she opened her eyes, the Mice looked up at her in confusion as they saw her eyes glowing lavender along with her markings as she stared off in front of her. The Main deck was tinted lavender in her vision as she could no longer see anyone in the room, only a broad back covered in a dark blue cape, white hair pulled back into a small ponytail as they stood in Allura's place.

' _King Alfor?'_ Devine questioned as she recognized the Altean King's voice as he gave instructions to a little girl she couldn't see, that didn't sound like Allura, missing her posh accent.

 _"Activate the interlock."_

"Dynotherms connected." Devine heard Coran's voice along with Alfor's echoing voice, drowning out Allura's in her head as she spoke.

 _"Prep the Mega-thrusters."_

"We are ready to depart Planet Arus on your mark, Princess." Coran addressed confidently, Devine could feel everyone's excitement at castle ship's first launch in at least 10,000 years.

 _"Then fire the main engines to launch,_ _ **little one**_ _."_ Alfor's voice said encouragingly as Devine took a slow, deep breath before counting down softly in her own mind.

' _Five.'_

Shiro was the first to feel a strange sensation traveling threw his body, not bad, not good just strange.

' _Four'_

Lance and Hunk shivered in excitement as they saw the black screens show the Arusian sky outside the castle.

' _Three.'_

Pidge and Keith had their bodies tense up in preparation of launch, before a warm feeling washed over their bodies, relaxing the young paladins.

' _Two.'_

Coran had a sense of familiarity overcome him, remembering the times Queen Amora would pilot the Castel ship for King Alfor, the castle could only truly be piloted by a blood member of the Altean Royal family that was skilled in Altean Alchemy, meaning it could just be Allura and any children she had, that would take to the ways of Alchemest, that could fully utilize his grandfather's creation.

' _One.'_

Allura felt a little sad and nervous, her father had taught her how to pilot the ship since she was eight. She hated trying to fly it at first, with practice, and her father's guiding hands, it brought back bitter sweet memories of her childhood aboard the old castle ship.

" _ **Blast off!"**_

Devine yelled loudly with childish excitement, pumping her right fist in the air as Platt had fallen off her shoulder into her hood, getting everyone's attention as they looked back in confusion and a bit of shock at her sudden cry.

"Sorry. Got a little _too_ excited for all of us there." She confessed, blushing in embarrassment as the lavender light faded from her eyes and markings.

"That's alright, Miss Devine. It was just rather sudden. Now it's time to launch the castle." Allura assured her with a small smile, as something was familiar about her words as the castle broke free from its former resting place, the screens around them slowly changing from Arus' landscape and blue skies, to the dark abyss of space that was decorated with countless little lights of far away worlds.

A strange nostalgic feeling over came the empath, confusing her as she had usually watched out the ships window to see the planet slowly fade into an all in compacting starry night, but the launch of the castle made _**HER**_ feel both scared and relived.

"I... should go make myself useful." Devine sighed, speaking mostly to herself as she turned to leave the main deck while everyone was still aw struck by the launch.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"He's still alive alright... but barely." Devine frowned, unsure of how to really feel as she looked at the near unrecognizable mass of broken, charred, and twisted remains that was supposed to be Haxus, as in the next cryo-pod there was a much larger mass of burned purple fur, with a missing left arm, a makeshift bandage over its eyes and left shoulder.

"Sen _dick_ surviving isn't much of a shock, but you-" She narrowed her eyes at the frozen and broken Galra. "Are the Galra still really that resilient, or is it just your own misfortune to go ageists the Galra code of _Victory or Death_?" She asked, not excepting a response.

Hesitating for a moment, she set the mice down safely away from the occupied pods as they looked at her in confusion, only to squeak in warning as she approached Haxus cell and allowing it to open. There was the sound of a strangled gasp before Haxus' body fell to the floor, laying deathly still as the Galra solder tried to process where he was, his vision and hearing nearly destroyed as he felt nothing but pain shot threw his nerves.

"Surviving electrocution and a great fall? Playing a game of chance with you would have been interesting." Devine mentioned as she keeled beside the prone Galra who tried to stay still, not wanting to show weakness in front of his enemy, let alone someone Zarkon wanted to deal with personally.

"I... tell... no... thing…" the Galra struggled to say to the woman feeling weaker as he used all his energy just to stay still and conscious. "I don't except you to. You're in a lot of pain already so torturing you will do no good. The surge of electricity from the castle is still reeking havoc on your nerve endings." She frowned, placing a hand gently on top of the Galra's head, making it glow purple.

"What... do..." he tried to ask but stopped as he felt something start to smooth his pain away, it felt strange to the Galra solder who was not used to this gentle healing. Should a Galra become ill or injured, depending on rank and influence, they would become the Druids latest project or just be shoved out into space to die alone.

"I'm slowly cutting off your nerve endings, so you won't feel a thing anymore." She told him as she watched the Galra's body slowly relax as she cut the connections from his brain. Yellow eyes looked at her with confusion and fear.

"Why?" he breathed out as he felt no more pain, his eye lids becoming heavy as her hand stopped glowing purple, her other hand gently cradled his chin, gently turning his head to look at her as she gave a sad smile. "You are a loyal and intelligent Galra solder. The least I can do is give you a peaceful death." She told him before she snapped his neck in one quick motion, what little quintessence was inside his body flew away from the ship, now free to move on to the next world.

The mice let out a startled squeaks as they witnessed the Galra's body become engulfed in purple flames as it disintegrated into nothing right before their little eyes. Devine let out a soft sigh as she saw the purple flames slowly disappear before her eyes. Looking at Sendak with uncertainly before she turned to leave. "We are going to be meeting Rolo and Nyma soon." She mused quietly as she got off her knees and headed off to meet with the others.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

The woman entered the main deck, only for her ears to be assaulted by Lance's horrible imitation of a siren for a tick before Shiro's hand covered his mouth quickly.

"Nope. Not doing that." Shiro stated firmly as he was the first to notice her entrance as he gave her a smile. "Miss Devine, you missed saying goodbye to the Arusians' new Chief." He informed her as the other Paladins looked at her with excited grins.

"Yeah, can you believe they use _**The**_ _**Volcan Salute**_?" Hunk explained as he tried to imitate the fictional alien salute, failing as he used his other hand to make the proper formation. "How cool is that?" he asked as Pidge grinned knowingly as the older female blushed. "Yeah, he even told us to _Live long and prosper_ ~. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" She asked as Devine gave a guilty smile. "Yeah, I thought that was just a _**Star Wars**_ thing." Lance mentioned, getting Pidge, Hunk and Devine to give him an annoyed looked.

" _ **It's Star TREK, Lance"**_ The corrected him collectively as Lance looked surprised and confused before pouting.

"Yeah, whatever you space nerds."

"Miss Devine, do you think you can provide medical aid?" Allura asked as she turned to Devine who portrayed confusion. "Yes, but who's hurt now?" she asked, as the princess looked at the asteroid they were heading towards instead of the Balmera, where Rolo and Nyma waited for a soft hearted sucker to fall for their trap.

"No one hopefully, but it would be good to have a healer check them for any injuries. Just to be certain." She reasoned, making Devine hid her amusement at the irony. She had just killed one of their prisoners just a few dobashes ago, and even got rid of his body so there was no evidence he had even been there.

"Coran, stay aboard and try to get as many of our systems clear of the energy form that Galra Crystal as you can. We'll see to those who hailed us." Allura instructed her aid as the control towers lowered back into the floor.

Devine becoming slightly uneasy, but tried to not recall many details of this event with Shiro so close. Hunk was suppressing his own frustration with the delay in his rescue the Balmera/Shay plan that the woman placed a comforting hand on the large young man.

"Don't worry hun. This will be a quick stop." She assured him with a small smile but the yellow paladin still looked worried. "Something doesn't feel right about this Miss Devine." He confessed as she felt his unease.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Is it really nessacarry for _all_ of us to come _help_ them?" Devine asked Allura, questioning her decision to bring all the Paladins to help one small craft that was already over a decade old. "Of course. It is important for all paladins to help those in need, and as the Princess of Altea, it is my duty to see that tradition is followed. It is also crucial to have a healer at all times for any injuries we my come across. You should really wear more white. They may start to think you're an undertaker rather than a healer." Allura concluded as the older woman was unimpressed once they touched down on the asteroid in front of a little camp.

' _Why do Alteans always have to be so_ _ **Extra**_ _?'_ The woman questioned in her mind as the doors opened to let them out. Devine could feel some well contained fear flowing from the two _stranded_ travelers, as a smaller third alien was downright terrified as it hid somewhere behind their outdated cyber-unit.

Allura lead them out of the pod thing, catching site of the purple male alien, Rolo, a female yellow alien, Nyma, and their robot hiding behind some crates incase of hostiles before Rolo slowly rose from his hiding place with an alien wrench in hand, trying to look friendly.

"You don't know how glad we are to see some friendly faces. Most folks don't want to get tangled up with anyone who's on the run from the Galra." Rolo greeted the group but still held a defensive stance. "So, you guys are fighting the Galra?" Keith asked him as Allura stopped their large party as Devine carefully examined their ship and cyber-unit for a few ticks.

' _It's in pretty good condition for being over 15 years old, but the robot looks like a 2 year old Nanny Cyber-unit. They couldn't possibly have a child with them? Could they?'_ She thought, ignoring Rolo's introductions as she narrowed in on the last hidden little life from, leaving Rolo confused as he was ignored, Nyma became worried as Devine crouched down a little bit away from the little one's hiding place. "And what's your name hun?" she asked softly, hearing and feeling surprise from behind her as a little pale yellow alien with blue eyes shyly peeked out at her.

"A child!?" Allura asked, stunned at the older woman's discovery, making the little girl fearful as she hid again. "That's Nana, my little sister. She's really shy around strangers." Nyma explained, but was worried by the woman finding her little sister's hidden location so quickly.

"Cool robot." Pidge ginned happily as she examined Beezer from different angles eagerly, also ignoring Rolo. "Hi, name's Lance." The blue paladin wasted no time in trying to work his charm on Nyma, also ignoring the purple alien, much to his annoyance at being ignored by three people.

"No need to be afraid little one. We are here to help you." Devine told the little alien girl softly, blue eyes peeking back out curiously, eyeing Devine's white hair tied back in a high pony tail and then the purple bandana she had tied around her neck to hide her scar instead of wearing her necklace, besides that the woman was dressed in all black with her belt full of special pouches and black fingerless gloves on her hands.

"Nyx?" the little girl asked, much to the woman's shock as the little girl came out of hiding a bit more, holding on to a familiar makeshift Allura doll that had blue buttons for eyes and looked a bit more worn out as the black and purple dress on it looked faded and tattered, one of the dolls arms looking ready to come off.

"Oh no! It looks like your little friend there could use some healing." She mentioned, only acting shocked as blue eyes widen with fear as she held the doll tight. Devine gave her a soft smile carefully reaching into one of her pouches to pull out a needle stuck on top of a bobbin filled with strange white thread. "Don't worry, I'm a healer. I can help fix your little friend." She assured the little girl who blinked at her in wonder. "Can you 'eal big brother Rolo too?" she asked as Devine glanced back at the purple alien who looked at them upon hearing his name. "Nana?" he called the little girl's name in confusion as Devine turned back to the little girl with a smile. "Sure. I can check on him, after I take care of your little friend here first. Okay?" Devine reasoned as the little girl handed the woman her doll, before looking shyly at the princess and the other Paladins.

"Princess Lura!" The little shouted as her blue eyes sparkled as she saw the princess. Allura was surprised that the little girl called out part of her name, even more so when the little tyke ran up and hugged her legs suddenly. "Oh!? Um? You've heard of me, little one?" Allura asked unsurely, looking for someone's help, but Devine was sewing up the girl's doll. "You're like my dolly, Nyx gave me!" Nana told the princess happily, only confusing the princess and the Paladins further.

"Your dolly is all better now cutie." Devine smiled as she held out the doll that looked a lot like Allura, only the dolls hair seemed to match Devine's. "Thank 'ou, Nyx!" the little girl squealed happily as she skipped back to Devine to take the doll and hug it happily.

"You guys are with Nyx and her crew?" Rolo asked, looking surprised and a bit impressed as he looked at the massive castle with more interest than before, looking for something on its exterior. "Afraid I've never heard of this _Nyx_. I am Princess Allura of Altea, and these are The _Paladins of Voltron_. We are here to fight besides you to defeat Zarkon once and for all." The princess explained to him with a confident smile, but Rolo looked at the serious looking Paladins, Shiro, Keith and Hunk. Before he looked over at Pidge annoying Beezer by playing with his ears and Lance trying to put the moves on Nyma as she pretend to be amused.

"... Okay? But you've seriously never heard of Nyx? She even came down with you guys, how can you not know her?" Rolo asked as he pointed his thumb at Devine who was giving the little girl a quick check up with her healing purple glow. "M-miss Devine? Are you-?" Allura asked, wide eyed with surprise as the woman smiled at the little girl.

"Nyx, yeah. It's more of a Code name for when I go on missions with a small crew I formed a while ago." she admitted. "Good news, she's just a little underweight for her age, and the minor injury to her arm has healed nicely." Devine informed him as Rolo whistled in appreciation.

"Never thought I'd meet an unmasked Nyx outside my dreams. You're much cuter in real life~." He complemented her with a charming smirk, placing an arm casually across her shoulders. "How about you give me a check-up next?" he asked, ignoring Allura and the paladins, Shiro narrowed his eyes at the purple alien in suspicion as Devine gave him an amused smile.

"I think I better check on your _girlfriend_ first. A week on a desolate asteroid can get pretty boring for a young, _fertile,_ couple." She stressed keys words in her sentence, making Rolo flinch away from her in shock, his face turned dark purple with a blush.

"W-what!? Nyma's not my girlfriend! She's like a _sister_ to me!" he yelled nervously, looking over at Nyma who was confused at first, before her purple eyes widen as she realized what he was saying. "Wait, he's your _boyfriend_?" Lance asked, confused by the alien girl's actions. "N-no! Rolo? My boyfriend? As if!" Nyma tried to pass it off as a joke, but her small blush betrayed her. Only Lance believed her.

"Okay then, how about you and I-"

"Lance, watch Nana, while I give Nyma here, a quick health check." Devine instructed sternly as Lance pouted but did as she said when she gave him a look his mom would use on him before he left the two females alone.

Nyma glared at Devine but was taken back to see dead yellow eyes looking at her with a rather blank expression. "Let's go somewhere a little more, _private_." She said, and firmly grabbed her arm to drag the alien girl away. Nyma became nervous as she tried to get Rolo's attention but he had his back to her, showing them the broken down part of their ship, Nana helping the small green one terrorize Beezer.

"Pretty much our whole flaxum assembly is shot. I don't know what kind of extra parts you carry in that rig of yours. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's pretty different from the repurposed Galra ships Nyx and her crew uses." Rolo mentioned, surprising everyone. "She has Galra ships?" Pidge asked, shocked as Rolo was dumbfounded by their surprise. "So the rumors say. How else are you gonna take down Galra bases and live to do it several more times?"

"How about with 5 robot lions that combine into a huge metal ah, guy? Thing?" Lance asked, but was unsure about referring to Voltron as a _he_ , seeing as the Lions where all _female_ , but Rolo was just more confused. "Sure. I'd love to see them... it?" he asked, just as confused.

"Why don't we just get to work on your ship? I'm sure we all have places to be right." Hunk suggested, getting impatient with their short mission growing longer."I'm sure we can get your ship back up and running. Give Hunk a list of what you need and Coran can show you where to find it." Allura suggested much to the yellow paladin's dislike. "Thanks, we-I'll go with you. Don't want you to have to carry all that by yourself." Rolo suggested helpfully, seeing that Beezer was now being assaulted by the blue and green Paladins along with Nana, making his way over to the castle ship before Hunk steps in his way. "Uh, I don't think so. You can just wait out here." The large paladin said firmly to the purple alien, narrowing his eyes in distrust.

"Hunk, don't be rude." Allura scolded him, as Hunk became annoyed. "Oh, I'm sorry, but does anyone else remember the last time we let our defenses down? Someone kind of set off a bomb! Remember that Lance? You would be dead if it weren't for Miss Devine." he scowled his friend as the others cringed at his words in shame.

"Hunk's right." Shiro spoke up with a frown before looking at Rolo who seemed disappointed. "Sorry, but we have to be cautious." The male alien just shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, I don't take it personal. That's how it is out here. You've got to look out for your own. You're doing a good job, big man." He praised Hunk before being bumped from behind by the terrified cyber-unit.

"Bee'ar no fun." Nana pouted next to Pidge, who was giving the cyber-unit a wide and egger grin. "Don't worry, I can _fix_ it... I think." She said before pulling out a large unnesssacary tool making the robot cower in terror behind Rolo.

"I didn't think cyber-units could feel terror." Devine mussed as she came out of the ship, without Nyma, which worried Rolo as he gulped nervously.

"W-what did you do to Nyma?" he asked as the woman calmly walked over to him with a rather sinister feeling to her smile. "Just gave her a full check up and some _good news_. She's resting now but it seems the young ladies hadn't had a decent meal in quite a while. A few _bumps_ and scratches, nothing a few supplements and a decent meal wouldn't fix." She suggested, before visually examineing him. "I would really like to get a look at you left leg though. Prosthetics aren't my strong suit but I do know they can get infected rather easily if not taken care of. " She pointed out, making Rolo break into a cold sweat as she knew about his old injury, just by looking at him.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"You really are a healer. Never would have guessed from all the stories about you cutting a Galra Commander's arm off." Rolo smirked as Devine's healing purple light faded from over what was left of his leg connected to a makeshift prosthetic leg that had come from a Galra sentry.

"WHAT!?" Allura asked, shocked as the younger Paladin's eyes widen in surprise. "Maybe, she's actually done it two, maybe three times. To the same commander to." Shiro informed casually, making Devine freeze before she looked at him with a small glare and a blush. " _That_ you remember from the Arena?" she asked as Shiro gave her a fond smile. "You did save my life that way, so yeah." He chuckled, seeing Devine's face turn pink and a rather cute blush before she calmed down and handed Rolo an Arusian treat she retrieved from a pouch.

"What's this?" he asked confused but took the treat anyway.

"Something to eat. The girls may be a bit malnourished, but you haven't eaten in quite some time yourself. Not to mention you're severely underweight for your species and age." Devine told him with a worried frown, Rolo blushed and looked at the treat with hesitation. The woman sensed his worry and concern before pulling out another wrapped treat.

"Nana? Would you like a little treat as well?" she asked the little girl who was playing with her doll and Lance as her blue eyes sparkled. "Treat!" she cried out happily, bouncing up to the woman happily to be given the foreign food.

"Hey can I get one of those too?" Lance asked her, jealous of the little alien girl happily gobbling up her treat. "Sorry Lance, but there's more in the castle. Once we are done here you can have one." She informed him with a sad smile, Lance having been the only one not to have tasted the delicious Arusan treat out of all the paladins.

" 'ungry?" Nana asked as she offered what was left of her treat to Lance who looked both guilty and shocked. "No thanks, Lil' Princess. That's your treat; I wouldn't be a good paladin if I took a ladies treat." He told the little girl, giving her a kind smile, making her giggle before she ate the rest of her treat happily.

' _Aww~ I wish I had a camera~.'_ Devine gushed, looking at Lance get along with the little girl, who trusted him enough with her doll.

"Rolo! Nana!" Nyma called out to them, looking a little pale as she rejoined them, looking worriedly at Rolo who quickly sat up to meet her, Beezer following behind him. "Nyma are you okay? You shouldn't be up, here have this." Rolo was quick to cradle the alien girl in his arms protectively, offering her his food, which Devine assumed he had been doing for quite a while for both females. Nyma only shook her head as she looked at him with worry.

"Rolo... I have to tell you something." She said nervously, looking over at the Voltron crew before she dragged him away, Beezer about to follow but Rolo spoke up. "Beezer look after Nana." He commanded the robot who seemed angry? Scared? As the green paladin grinned, advancing on the poor cyber unit.

"What was that all about?" Allura asked confused as Devine giggled, Shiro sighed as he heard what she was thinking. _'He's thinking she's pregnant~.'_ Devine mussed, feeling the two worry over something, shock, fear, determination and a bit of embarrassment before they came back to the group, Rolo blushing a dark purple and Nyma not looking at any of them as she wrapped her arms around her stomach nervously. "Miss Devine, that is not something to joke about." Shiro reprimands the woman who only smiled at him innocently. "I never said she was~. He just assumed since it was very possible she was. I don't think anyone even gave them _The Talk_ , as you humans call it." She explained, shrugging her shoulders as Allura looked confused, but the young Paladin's froze in shock at its mention.

" _The Talk?_ What is that?" the princess asked in confusion.

"Me and Nana are gonna play over there now." Lance said as he picked up the little girl on his shoulders and walked far enough away to not hear Devine's explanation. "It's when parents or other experienced adults of their species, lectures them about the process of creating a new life." She informed the princess who still looked confused.

"Are humans really that complicated? Alteans are simply formed from precious flowers, and when their petals fall a new Altean child is born." She explained, getting wide eyed looks from the remaining Paladins and Devine as they realized how serious the princess was about being born from a flower, unsure of how Altean reproduction worked.

"You poor dear, you haven't experienced an _**Altean Heat Cycle**_ yet, have you?" the older woman asked, making a mental note to talk with Coran about it later. "No. I will not experience my first heat until I am wed. I don't see what the confusion is about here." Allura frowned as she had the feeling they were not telling her something, Shiro sharing a look with the older woman who shook her head in response to his silent question.

"Allura, what you just told us is not the way Alteans are _really_ brought into the world." Devine told her, looking a bit annoyed and confused. "What do you mean?" Allura asked, hands on her hips making Devine think for a moment.

"I'll have a talk with Coran about this before telling you anything more." The empath sighed in worry.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Both our planets were destroyed by the Galra, I was taken captive and sent to one of the work camps scattered around the Galra Empire. I managed to escape, but not before I lost my leg in the last attempt." Rolo explained his and Nyma's experience with the Galra, sitting down with everyone around a fire pit.

"I know exactly how that feels." Shiro admitted as he looked down at his own prosthetic arm, clenching his fist in contained anger, Devine gently pressed into his left side, seeming to help clam the black paladin with her action, a cold darkness overcoming their little camp. Rolo saw as he was doing the same with Nyma on his right, before Hunk arrived with a hover cart full of parts.

"Well, I hope there are some parts in here that'll fit... you know, to get your ship moving?" Hunk explained as Rolo didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to get his ship back in shape. "Great! Thanks." He insincerely thanked Hunk before Allura caught his attention. "So, what can you tell us about Zarkon's forces? Where are they concentrated?" The princess asked, confusing the two stranded aliens before he spoke up.

"Well, his Command Ship sits right in the center of the Empire. He mostly calls the shots from there. His minions do the work, depending on who's closest. Right now we are in the territory of a real nasty bugger named Sendek." He informed them only to hear a snort from Devine, looking up he saw the woman frown as she was pressed into Shiro's side, the Paladin either not noticing or caring that the female was so close to him.

"Sen _dick_ is not going to be seen for a _long_ time." Devine spoke up, Shiro glancing at her, eyes widening slightly as he noticed how close she was to him before looking at Rolo again, but with a light pink blush on his cheeks. "How far are we from the center?" The black paladin asked as Rolo glanced at Devine who narrowed her eyes at him for some reason, possibly knowing the info he was giving them was all just common knowledge, which the purple alien found strange.

"We're way out on the fringes." Rolo informed him, as it was true before the large paladin walked up to them.

"Hey! Sorry to interrupt, but I think you guys are kind of keeping Rolo from working. It's just that we're in a hurry. A hero named Shay saved my life, and I swore I would return to do the same for her and her people." Hunk ranted before looking pointedly at Rolo.

"You understand."

"Sure. Sorry. Nyma you wanna help?" Rolo asked as they went to check out the parts Hunk had brought, Rolo pat Hunk on the shoulder giving a fake smile before walking past him, as both aliens inspected the parts, checking each piece unnessacarrly.

Shiro gently pushed Devine as she looked at him with a frown, still slightly leaning on him.

"They gave us common knowledge. They either don't know much more than that, or their playing dumb." Devine told him as Shiro looked at her worriedly, feeling her unease. "I noticed, you seem uneasy. What are you getting from them?" Shiro asked as Devine looked at the two inspecting some common tools that had not changed in 10,000 years. "They're on edge about something. When I was in their ship earlier, there were _four_ slept in bunks and a charging station for their nanny Cyber-unit." She told him before she bit her lip worriedly. Unsure of how much Rolo and Nyma's motivations changed.

"Are you two done cuddling? Or are you gonna start kissing next?" Hunk asked, looking at Shiro and Devine, as they blushed and backed away from each other quickly. "I'm not in Altean armor so I'm a little cold here, Hunk. Besides, Shiro's almost as warm and _squishy_ as you are." She told him, admitting to a bit of truth.

"Hunk, we're going to get going soon, but I think they might have some information that could be helpful to us." Shiro calmly explained to the large paladin only to hear Devine scoff behind him in disbelief. "Not for nothin' Shiro, but I don't trust them. Miss Devine doesn't think they have anything that can help us either. We ought to leave them with the box parts and just say, _Adiós, amigos._ " Hunk expressed his concern before Nyma called out to him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Yellow paladin, but could I trouble you to find us a thermal pipe about 8.23 millacards long?" she asked nicely, trying to be endearing to the frustrated paladin as she smiled sweetly. Hunk didn't have the heart to say no, and she was specific about the length which confused Devine a little.

"On the way." Hunk huffed and left the group again in search for the part.

"You know how to repair this ship?" The woman asked Nyma who blinked in confusion. "You asked for a thermal pipe in the exact measurements for this model, but the ship is almost as old as you are." She pointed out, making Nyma a bit more nervous.

"Y-yeah, this ship is-was my dad's." the girl confessed uneasily as Devine paid close attention to her emotions, Nyma was not lying as she looked at it sadly. "I would try and help him repair it so we could all escape the Galra, but..." Nyma grew quiet as tears came to her eyes; Rolo came to her side as she did not hesitate to wrap her arms around him.

"It's gonna be okay Nyma." Rolo gently held the crying girl as Devine felt the genuine emotions from them, but the woman still felt they were hiding something.

"Sorry if I'm being blunt, but are there any more freedom fighters? Any kind of organized resistance to the Galra?" Shiro asked them, as Rolo was more preoccupied by Nyma. "Just Nyx and her crew as far as I know. There are a lucky few who managed to escape, but most just want nothing to do with the Galra anymore." He admitted truthfully.

"Well, we're going to change all that." Keith spoke up, not content with just sitting around talking."That's good to hear, but I've got to warn you." Rolo frowned before looking at all of them worriedly. "It's pretty bad out there. You don't know what you're up against." He warned, feeling concern but not for them as Devine could not help but smirk.

"We have a better shot then most, we will at least try. Nothing can last forever and soon... Zarkon's strangle hold on the universe will end." Rolo and Nyma looked at her in confusion before looking at each other with a strange look.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"I'll save you Princess Nana!" Lance yelled dramatically as he scooped up the giggling girl in one arm, pointing his bayard at a make shift villain that fell over before Lance could shoot it. "and stay down Zarkon!" Lance smirked as Nana cheered happily, wrapping an arm around the blue paladin's neck, pecking him on the cheek.

"Flying Kitty?" she asked her eyes sparking in childish wonder as Lance was still riding his high from playing pretend with a child. "What? You wanna see Safy? My lion?" he asked, his excitement slightly dampened as she nodded. "'lease?" she asked, giving him a very affective puppy dog eyes, thankfully Lance had some immunity to it.

"Um? I don't know. We're not allowed to bring you guys on board." He told the child who looked ready to cry. "I 'ove Kitties." She trembled before letting out a shrieking cry that got the other's attention.

"Nana! What's wrong?" Nyma was the first to come to her sister and hug her to make her stop crying. " _Shush~_. Big sister is here. Tell me what's wrong?" she asked the little girl who looked at her sadly. "Wanna see big kitties, Nyma." Nana told her sister as Allura felt bad after seeing the little girl in tears.

"Well... I don't see why not." She spoke up, unnerving Shiro and Devine who stared at the crying little girl with an odd look. "Princess Allura, I don't think that's a good idea. Taking out a lion could draw nessacarry attention to this place." Shiro argued, frowning as he felt Devine's unease. "And the gigantic white and blue castle isn't? Come on, she's just a little girl Man. What harm can she do?" Rolo asked in defense of Nana, the girl looked up at Shiro with fear as she held onto her sister tighter.

The black Paladin was taken back as he saw an image of a chubby young girl in a light blue dress, her dull eyes sparking with intelligence before she gave a wicked smile.

"I agree. Lance you have permission to show little Nana your lion." Allura told Lance who smiled before saluting the princess. "Yes, Ma'am. Come on, Nana. Your about to meet one huge blue kitty!" He announced with excitement as the little girl's tears stopped a little too quickly as she smiled wide with excitement.

"Kitty!" Nana cheered as she followed Lance into the castle in happiness.

"M-miss Devine?" Shiro looked at the woman who didn't say anything, but she was giving the retreating girl an odd look before looking at Nyma who flinched under her gaze. "Is something Wrong Miss Nyx?" she asked the woman who closed her eyes before sighing.

"It's nothing. I'm just reminded of my own siblings." She admitted looking away as her arms where across her chest. The Paladins and princess became shocked. "You... had siblings? Are they-" Allura asked as Devine shifted uneasily, closing her eyes. "Their dead as well, Allura." The older woman clarified, as Rolo and Nyma's eyes gave her sympathy.

"Was it Zarkon?" Nyma asked but the empath shook her head.

"No."

Devine chilled them all as she opened her eyes, dull yellow, almost dead eyes looked back at them but only Allura fainted from looking at them for the first time, over come with fear.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Pretty!" Nana smiled as she looked up at Sapphire in genuine aw. Sitting in Lance lap as they were raised into the lion's cockpit, where her blue eyes sparkled in wonder as the lion came to life, showing them the hanger.

"Eeyup, Safy is one beautiful gal. Right girl?" Lance asked his lion as she purred at his complete, the cuban could almost hear words.

"Voom voom?" she asked sweetly as Lance looked unsure.

"I don't know. It could be really scary for a little girl like you." Lance told her unsurely as she gave him the eyes again, only assisted by Sapphire who was willing to show the little girl a fun time. "Okay, just a lap around the moon okay?" Lance offered as the little girl beamed happily as she watched as the lion flew out of the castle and out into space.

While on the asteroid's surface the others could see blue partials left in the lion's wake.

"Oh, Lance." Hunk frowned as he saw the blue lion leave its hanger, Missing Rolo's smirk. "Ah, let them have their fun. Thanks to you, this thing is just about ready, soon we're going to be on our way. Too many light years on that guy, I guess." He praised as Hunk eyed the part that he had just replaced with suspicion. The alien technology not being to different from the ships the Galaxy Garrison had, except or certain advanced parts.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"She just fainted, she'll be alright." Devine informed the remaining Paladins who looked worriedly at the fainted princess. "Well you did give us a scary look; maybe it scared her to much?" Pidge offered, trying to imitate Devine's creepy dead stare only to fail.

"Yeah. It's... pretty terrifying to be honest." Keith spoke up before looking at a rather unnerved Shiro who looked like he was trying to piece together something in his head. "It's not a look you just pick up. You had to have experienced something pretty horrible to make your eyes look so..." the black paladin tried to find a better word then _**dead**_.

"I think this thing is just about ready for a test flight. Beezer, stay here with them. We'll be back in a tick." Rolo spoke up suddenly, the cyber-unit making a surprised and angry sounding beeps as he and Nyma quickly entered the ship.

Their sudden departure leaving the Voltron crew confused as they took off without any further issues. While everyone watched them fly off Devine's eyes were on the cyber-unit that got left behind, a tingle of sadness coming from the robot. _'That's strange, in more ways than one.'_ She thought before approaching the abandoned unit, placing a firm hand on its rounded head, making a noise of shock come from the robot.

"Don't worry Beezer. It's not like their gonna leave you behind right?" she lightly joked before seeing the Cyber-units ' _ears'_ drop down low.

"Uh... Anyone else find that weird? No? Just me?" Hunk asked, looking at everyone with disappointment and annoyance. Devine had a bad feeling about the whole ordeal, finding it strange how it played out with an extra character or two, and then having them leave behind their trusty robot Beezer, added to the fact that Sapphire had not returned yet with Lance and Nana.

"What happened?" Allura asked as she slowly sat up from her fainting spell.

"Rolo and Nyma just took their ship out for a test run." Keith informed her, as he watched the princess rub her eyes. "Are you alright?" he asked with some concern as the princess shook her head. "It's nothing, just a sad memory." She admitted, a tear falling from her eye as she briefly recalled a pair of yellow Altean eyes and purple markings.

"Try this Allura." Devine spoke up pulling a wrapped lollipop from one of her pouches, gently tossing it to the princess as she leaned carefully on the oddly still cyber-unit. The princess blinked in confusion as the candy landed in her hands. "What's this?" she asked before gasping as a wide grin broke out on her face. "Do they still make these? Where did you get them!?" She asked, excited as everyone looked at her in confusion and surprise, even Devine.

"I think so, a friend gave me a few of these as a birthday gift a while ago. Why the excitement?" she asked and Allura regained her princess composure making Devine smirk a little. "These where a favorite treat of mine when I was a little girl. Bastet would-No... it can't be…" Allura's eyes widen as she stared at Devine who was looking at her in confusion. The princess approached her, placing her palms on the older woman's face and inspecting it for something.

"Your eyes and face are the same shape and color… but your hair and markings are very different." She voiced sadly, her thumbs brushing across the empaths markings, making her ears and tail appear as she purred happily at the action, amusing the princess as she stoked her markings again. "Aww~ who's a good little kitty?" she asked in amusement before Devine pulled her arms away with an annoyed blush. "Don't do that! You know _Altean Markings_ are sensitive and it's considered impolite for any non family members or non mates to touch them." Devine scolded the princess who pouted.

"I bet you would let _Shiro_ touch them~." Allura teased at the woman blushed, her tail going ridged and ears perked up on top her head. "Are they really that sensitive?" Pidge asked curiously as she looked at the two Altean females curiously, poking the tuff of lavender fur on Devine's tail, only to have it hit her gently in the face.

"Hey!" Pidge cried in surprise, fixing her glasses back on her face.

"No touchy~." Devine hissed, annoyed before feeling a slender finger scratch at her ear, suppressing a moan/purr before glaring half heartedly at Allura who was grinning. "They're so soft and fluffy."The princess praised as she played with her ears gently, the older woman letting Allura enjoy her odd features reluctantly. _'At least she's feeling better, and it feels kinda nice.'_ The older woman thought, making Shiro smile softly as Pidge eyed Devine's tail tip that waved from side to side slowly, the stripped markings and tuff of fur at the tail tip, became a light pink that matched Allura's suit

"I keep forgetting that Miss Devine's not human." Keith mentioned to Shiro who glanced at him. "Is that really such a bad thing?" he asked as Keith narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the three females. "No, but… has she actually been _too_ Earth? She was singing a lullaby from home and speaking to Lance in another language he understood." The red paladin pointed out, having been worried for his ' _rival'_ only to hear the woman sing; it was soothing and familiar to him before Pidge woke him up from his sudden nap.

"Keith. Hunk. You must come pet Miss Devine. She fell right to sleep and petting her is very relaxing." Allura spoke up from where she sat on a crate, Devine half laying in her lap laying down with her eyes closed in contentment at being petted. Pidge was carefully examining her tail with the cyber-unit who seemed confused by the older woman's new appendages as the stripes shifted form pink to blue.

Hunk looked tempted and gave in as he gently touched one of her ears, making it flick with a pink hearts as she slept. "Okay now that is adorable." The large paladin admitted as he kept petting her ears with glee.

"Not tempted?" Shiro asked Keith who looked confused before giving Shiro a knowing smirk. "No. You're the one with the cat girl fetish, not me." Keith took pride as he saw the older paladin's face turn pink at his little secret being spoken out loud. "K-keith, it's not like that. She fell asleep while I pet her ears like the princess was doing and her purring was soothing. It really helped me get to sleep." Shiro defended himself nervously.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

 _Devine was flying over a strange place, the terain looked grayish green, and what looked like a lake was purple with large white orbs floating in it._

" _Where am I?" she questioned blinking as she came closer to the water, seeing a reflection of herself, as Sapphire, a paw breaking thru the mirror like surface to create a rainbow wall in her wake. Devine could feel happiness and joy filler enough to make her purr before she landed to let out her two passengers, Lance and Nana._

 _The little girl excitedly skipped over to the strange trees, waving the blue paladin over before she started to climb it._

" _ **Hey! Wait for me. You might hurt yourself."**_ _Lance's voice reached her ears as he worriedly chanced after her, attempting to climb the tree only once his feet where off the ground, Nana jumped down from the tree. The sound of a ships engine reached her ears as she looked up, seeing the ship that Hunk had just repaired coming down to pick up Sapphire._

" _Are they!? Stealing you!?" Devine asked the lion who gave her a pout, since she did know it would happen, just not with little Nana. "Right, sorry. Guess Nana is a lot like me. Don't worry Safy, we'll get you and Lance back easily enough." She assured the Lion before ending her link to the blue lion._

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Everyone was shocked as Devine suddenly sat up only to ram her head into Keith's chin.

"OW!" both grabbed the injured area in pain before Devine spoke up. "Lance and Sapphire are in trouble. We have to go." She spoke urgently as they all looked at her in worry. "What happened?" Shiro asked before they could hear Lance's voice calling out to them.

 _"Guys? Hello? Little help?"_ came the cuban boy's pleads over the coms in the Paladin helmets and Allura's earrings. "Lance? Lance! Are you alright? What's going on?" Shiro asked worriedly as he saw Devine's displeased glare. "I'm... kinda chained to a tree… and I think Nyma, Rolo and Nana, just stole Sapphire." Lance admitted embarrassingly, sighing sadly at the end.

"WHAT!?" The Paladin's and Allura yelled in shock as Devine flattened her ears at the noise. "I knew it! I never trusted those guys, right from the beginning!" Hunk yelled, angry that he had been right about the strangers.

"Where are they now?" Shiro asked, trying to remain calm for everyone. "Um? Space? They just left a few minutes ago. Nana even left me her Allura doll." Lance told them the little detil that made Devine worried. "Maybe their robot knows where they're going." Pidge suggested but as soon as she said that Beezer took off quickly. "Hey get back here!" Keith yelled before Devine let out an animalistic growl and chased the cyber-unit for a short while, before pouncing on it, her sharp claws digging into its hard surface.

"You are gonna tell me _where_ they are going with _MY_ Sapphire." Devine growled angrily as her hands sparked green, making the robot spark dangerously before it printed out a confession.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Can you read it?" Devine asked the mustached Altean, as he carefully looked over the shut down cyber-unit's printed confession, The other Paladins having headed out to retrieve Lance and Sapphire, tracking it with the Princess' connection to it and the blue paladin armor's com. "Yes, it says here they wanted something extremely valuable in trade for some slaves." Coran informed her, Devine feeling Croan and Allura's confusion. "According to the nanny bot, their trading with a man named, Yohan?" As soon as the name left Coran's mouth, Devine's blood ran cold.

"What would they want slaves for? I thought the Paladins of old abolished such a thing." Allura asked, surprised and horrified just by the idea of slaves, Devine tried to stay calm and think of a plan or two incase Sapphire did fall into that vile creature's hands.

"In the past 10,000 years, some ugly and horrible things are bound to come back. Although I wished they would have tried to sell it to the Galra or even Zarkon himself would have been better than Yohan. It would have been much simpler too." She admitted, biting her lip to make it bleed, the Alteans looked at her in shock.

"What!? Surely this Yohan cannot be worse than Zarkon. I'm sure we can negociate some sort of deal with him." Allura asked, looking afraid as she saw the older woman bleed. "You've dealt with him before Miss. Devine?" Coran asked, and the empath nodded in confirmation before feeling her communication device ping with a connection before buzzing for and incoming transmission.

' _Quiznack!'_

Devine quickly pulled it out to see it was Yohan himself trying to contact heart the moment.

"Coran! Keep Allura out of site while I take this call." She told the mustached altean as she pushed the princess into her advisor suddenly before taking off her jacket, exposing her lavender tank top and scars that looked like stripes on her upper arms, tossing the jacket to cover a confused Allura.

"Miss Devine! What are you doing!?" Coran yelled in shock as the young woman took off her pants, exposing the dark purple short shots underneath, then reaching behind her under the tank top to take off a large black bra, dumping it at her feet with her pants as she removed her boots then her stockings to expose the scars on her outer tights, much to her displeasure.

"Getting ready to put on a show. So stay quiet." Devine told him as she freed her hair from its pony tail, whipping it around crazily to make it look messy before lazing over the black paladin seat and interfacing her device with its controls.

Dreading the moment she answered it with a fake tired yawn.

"This better be good Yohan~. I was enjoying my latest _toy~_." She said with a pout, ignoring the confused and worried looks the Alteans gave her as she preformed for the perverted bastrud that was on the other line.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Well this was a good chapter, still having trouble coming up with titles for the chapters. It's around here there will be noticeable differences.


	9. Mini Chapter 2: The Lion Orbs

_**Self Insert: Dark Abyss**_

 _ **Mini Chapter 2: The Lion Orbs**_

 _ **~Blade of Marmora HQ~**_

 _ **Little One**_ _,_ as she was called by nearly all the blade members, slowly breathed in and out in meditation, something that was very important to the young female's sanity, and the safety of anyone around her. Two senior blade members watched the young woman levitated a foot in the air, both feet twisted upwards on her thighs, her hands laced together at her core, creating a strange, glowing orb that changed color with her mood.

To anyone else this would seem odd, but many of them knew better then to approach her at these times, especially if the orb was glowing blue, yellow, red, or gray: the colors of sadness, fear, rage, and death as they had witnessed the results from others being struck by those sparks.

When she first ventured out of her little room with Ulaz, she would spark green when something interested her into learning about it, being mostly information the Blade found useless. Should any of them be hit with it, they would just be compelled to satisfy her curiosity, very useful for interrogations if used correctly. Yet the little one had a tendency to use it on them when she became interested in joining them.

She was a valuable member with dedicated special training; they had assumed there was no Galra blood in her linage at first.

The _Little One's_ curiosity had lead her to the weapon storage, where they kept their scared blades of deceased members for use by future members. She had grabbed a blade in curiosity only to be over whelmed by the emotions imprinted into the handle by its former master. It was then they found out their little one was an _**Empath,**_ and that being hit by the blue sparks compelled the victim to feel sadness, the darker the blue the stronger it was, and it could easily go further out then the others.

The whole base grieved for their lost comrades for a few Varga, only to satisfy her need to honor the fallen. Yet some members seemed to become lighter after honoring the fallen with her, as she breathed out blue mist. The mist was strangely different from the sparks, creating a feeling of calm in those it touched.

It acted slower but was effective in calming any creature down, wild or tame.

Pink was a peculiar color, the sparks only appearing when making physical contact with Ulaz. The _Little One_ following him like a cub would its mother. Thus he had the responsibility of training her at first, a few others teaching her what they knew themselves, pink sparks appearing with physical contact with them after a while. At some point the pink sparks would arch into what she called a heart, Ulaz had admitted to thinking of her as his own child which was a returned familial feeling.

White was the rarest but it seemed to simply mean she was very happy or excited. Being a troublesome reaction at first, but it was easily quelled before any real damage could be done. A very durable shield and a collection of sharp daggers could be made from the emotion.

Yellow was both dangerous and useful if used correctly. It stemmed from great feelings of fear; being almost killed was not fear inducing enough, lousing a fellow Blade member she had become attached to however, was the biggest trigger of it. While it left many of their pursuers in their worst fears, letting them escape certain death, it would make her irrational and lead into a much worse emotion.

 _ **RED...**_

It was not a color they saw her use before, except on two occasions, the first on a long term mission to The Gladiator Arena. She would slip away from her handler for the mission, but she would always return safely. So he had no reason to report the strange behavior to Ulaz or the leader. It was worrying that she insisted on going back to the savage place.

It was only with the appearance of an earthling did they keep a better eye on her, catching her healing the earthling after his matches, just enough for him to survive another day, delaying his death. Yet the earthling, Champion as they called him, kept fighting on and being victorious. The blade took notice of him as she retold them about his matches, his cunning, his will, his compassion as she sparked pink and white.

It was in his last match that the red sparks appeared with fear and rage.

The Champion was set to die before a powerful Galra, the Champion lost his right arm, and the other prisoners lost hope as they watched The Champion bled out his life force before them all. Fear ran threw out the arena as the brutal Galra was about to collect his trophy, only to be hit by a large burst of red, losing his eye in the process.

She exposed herself in her haste to heal the Champion with strange purple light, the same light she fled in a flash, leaving the Champion in Galra hands.

The other occasion, they must admit to letting her express her rage freely. It was a simple mission to get supplies, yet a greedy trader offered her a _luxurious_ fur coat... made of _**Galra fur**_. Being an Empath, she saw the horror the previous owner of the fur endured before dying. The trader was brutally beaten and mutilated beyond recognition, the coat and others like it burned to give the deceased some peace.

Gray was very easy, yet difficult to identify.

A seemingly harmless joke about poising some treats she had made for her newest friend, she gave the offender a rather... unnerving look that unsettled many, the gray causing high levels of paranoia in those struck. It was uncommon and seemed to only appear when poisoning sweets was implied, or when a stranger was condescending her for her young age or capabilities of rather simple things.

Purple was another odd color, they didn't see it often unless they got hurt in the field, the Little One gravitating towards healing of all things. It was useful as many Blade members had been saved and able to take at least one more mission. Something familiar flowed threw them as the purple light touched them, feeling at peace and safe, doing whatever small thing she asked of them without hesitation.

On a hunch, they asked her to channel the purple color into a random blade. Expecting nothing unusual to happen, she would just feel the emotions imprinted into the blade and that would be it. However much to their shock and confusion, just holding it made the blade awaken!

The Little One was not aware of her true identity or liege, thus they would keep her safe until they could take down Zarkon once and for all.

Watching her they saw the color condense in her hands, slowly a smooth red orb formed around the burning red icon of a roaring lion.

* * *

A.N.: Short Mini chapter but i'm having a little trouble getting out the new chapter quite right. Eather it will take a while or it will be kinda crapy. :( Have not been feeling well or going outside. :(


	10. Chapter 8, A Woman's Best Asset

_**Self Insert: Dark Abyss**_

The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn't want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders!

 ** _WARRING!: Mentions of suside, sexual encounters, rape, slavery, Human(?) trafficking, massacre, and death_**

* * *

 ** _ _ **~Chapter 8, A Woman's Best Asset~**__**

Devine tried not to show her disgust as she looked at the face of Yohan, a sea sick green colored Alien with a squid like head, long tentacles complete with suckers hanging from his face, and beady black eyes he had under a yellow pair of glasses he wore, only three small hairs where on the disgusting creature's head, yet he was under the delusion he was loved by any female who saw him, regardless of their availability or interest.

" _Sorry to detract you from your_ _ **fun**_ _, Nyx, but I have something you might be interested in~."_ he chucked, looking at her breasts with great interest, as they where only restrained by her thin tank top. "What is it? It better be good." She responded yawning in disinterest, the strap for her tank top slid down over her shoulder, exposing another stripe/scar on her shoulder.

" _Oh it is~."_ He purred before the screen split to show Sapphire, Allura gasped loudly but Coran quickly covered her mouth to hold back anymore noise as Yohan chuckled. _"Does your new toy like kittens too~?"_ he asked as Devine looked at Allura who looked at her in confusion, before the woman looked back to the squid head. "Where did you get her?" Devine asked, ignoring his question as the alteans became uneasy.

" _It was a trade for a slave onboard my ship. I thought this thing would interest a woman like yourself. I could even_ _ **give**_ _it to you, if you want it that bad."_ Yohan chuckled as Coran became worried for the woman who looked displeased. "Have your men check its left hind leg, and tell me what they find." She told him, narrowing her eyes at him as he gave a confused look before chuckling.

" _And why would I give that order?"_ he asked with a slight huff as Devine glared at him, covering her chest with her arms. "Because, that is where I marked _**MY**_ Sapphire." She retorted with a pout and Yohan grinned widely. _"You should keep a better eye on your things, Nyx_ ~." He chuckled before giving his men the delayed order. _"So, if it is_ _ **your**_ _Sapphire. What is my finders fee?"_ he asked, the tentacles on his face wiggled suggestively but the woman ignored them as she tried to think of something.

"How about a _dinner_ date?" she suggested, inwardly cringing that she had to offer herself to him as his beady eyes twinkled in excitement, she could see his mind already working on ideas to violate her body.

" _I'll be eagerly awaiting your arrival. Huh? And it seems like this is your_ _ **Pussy**_ _cat I have~."_ Yohan chuckled as he showed her the mark on the Blue lion's leg.

 _ **NYX**_

Just those three human letters pained on a black diamond, in white and purple cursive letters, the final line of the X being a cut from her sharp claws, which didn't seem to have really hurt the lion mech when she first marked her as proof of ownership, just in case of something like this.

"Seems I need to have a little _talk_ with her handler. Send me your ship's code; I've got a new ship from some old fool." She striated up in the chair, leaving forward to expose more of her large mounds to distract Yohan into not asking any questions. _"Of course Nyx, I look forward to seeing_ _ **more**_ _of you."_ He chuckled before the communication ended and Devine made sure to disconnect the device before Allura made her way to her.

"Miss Devine please explain yourself and your-your lax attire!" the princess demanded, a scandalized blush on her cheeks as Coran looked at her worriedly. "I was getting Sapphire back in the quickest and easiest way I know how, Allura. Let me handle Yohan, I have... a lot of _experience_ with his kind." Devine admitted before standing up to leave the main deck. She could feel Coran's worry spike from behind the princess who crossed her arms over her chest.

"And what, pray tell, made you mark the blue lion as _yours_? The lions of Voltron are _**my**_ father's creations and it is my responsibility to take care of them. I'm sure I can negotiate a fair deal with him." the princess huffed as Devine and Coran looked at her in horror at the idea.

"Coran. You need to tell her how Alteans are really born." Devine informed the mustached altean who turned a deep red from shock and embarrassment. "I already know they come from flowers, Miss Devine. Do not change the subject; I want to know why you seem to act like _**you**_ are the Black paladin leader here, and not Shiro. You have no authority here in _**My**_ castle!" the princess yelled, hands on her hips and stopping her foot like a child as she pouted. Devine groaned at the childish princess, her words affecting the older woman slightly as she sparked blue. "Coran, tell her or I will. With very graphic examples and explicit details of the **_ALL_** the _**pleasures**_ of making babies." She threatened before taking her jacket from Allura, slipping it on before taking the rest of her clothes and leaving the main deck just as the paladins contacted the castle.

"Princess, it looks like we have a problem here." Shiro said as he and the remaining paladins appeared on screen with grim faces as the Alteans faced them. "Yes, we are aware. A man named Yohan just contacted us about the blue lion." Allura informed them as they looked at her in shock and disbelief.

" _ **WHAT!?"**_

 _ **~Voltron~**_

After freeing Lance, the paladins and the princess decided to interrogate the lion thieves and their ' _new'_ crew member, a dark orange Ailen that looked like he could be Nyma's and Nana's father.

"Please forgive them, they where only trying to fix this old man's mistakes." The man told them, Shiro frowned as he noticed the man was in all to familiar galra prisoner uniform. "How did they save you from the Galra?" the black paladin asked the older male who frowned as he looked down in shame. "I wasn't _saved_. I was sold to them from a Galra prisoner ship for _**600 GAC**_ , but Yohan asked my daughter for _**100,000 GAC**_ for my return or... to have _**her**_ in trade for both me and my wife." The man admitted as he clenched his fists in anger, Rolo scowling at the idea as Nyma shivered in disgust, Nana however looked calm despite her quiet tears.

"Yohan prays on anyone and everyone, especially those who have family in the Galra prisons. You either pay his price or trade for it. Cheat him, and you die a slow painful death." Rolo explained with a deep frown.

"So what are we gonna do now princess? Yohan contacted you, but how could he have known about us?" Shiro asked Allura who looked pale; Coran had explained to her how Altean babies where actually born, not too long ago and then explained what Devine was doing. "I-I don't know. He contacted Miss Devine, possibly right after obtaining the blue lion. She... setup a dinner date with him." she informed them, making the lion thieves gasp.

"You're trading _**NYX**_ for a stupid Blue Lion! Aren't the four you have enough!?" Rolo yelled in surprise and anger, glaring at the remaining lions only to flinch as the black lion moved, giving an audible growl as its yellow eyes lit up before opening its mouth. The Lion thieves flinched in fear before Devine came walking down its ramp with a functioning Beezer racing past her and to Nana who hugged the cyber-unit tightly.

" _ **Sapphire**_ is the second smartest lion of Voltron, she's not stupid!" The woman shouted firmly as her black, three inch high ankle boot heals clicked ageist's Obsidian's mouth as she walked up to the stunned group. Hunk and Pidge looked at her in confusion, Allura, Keith, and Shiro where blushing as they saw the rather _small_ outfit she was wearing and Lance let out an appreciative whistle.

"Miss Devine you are killing it in that dress!" he yelled enthusiastically as Devine smiled kindly at him. "Thank you, Lance, but you're still on the hook for losing Safy."

"Aw man." Lance pouted, but still observed the older woman wearing a black dress that hugged her wide hips and upper thighs, splitting apart at her belly button, exposing the area between her breasts and quite a bit of her large assets as the dress hung from a small sliver bow tied around her neck. A solid blood red vest was all that hid her upper arms, sides and back only up to the middle of her back, the rest was a transparent red material draped over the vest that went down to the small of her back and down to her writs barely concealing the sliver bracelets on each wrist.

"Ow! What!? She looks hot!" Rolo yelled as he looked at Nyma who turned her back to him in a huff. Keith looked away from the woman with a dark red face as Lance openly appreciated the display before elbowing a blushing Shiro. "What do you think, Shiro?" Lance asked him with a sly grin, Devine blushed as she took an embarrassed glance at the black paladin before looking away, having looked the paladin in the eye.

Shiro was speechless as he tried to take in the rather scandalous dress yet his dark gray eyes had looked into her ember eyes that had gained a shine to them before being hidden by a curtain of white hair that curled at the tips up to her shoulders, some spilling over her shoulders and hiding half her face. The black paladin was hyper focused on her, as he slowly approached, his right arm rising to push back the strands that hid her face, the cool metal of his hand making her shiver even more when it glided over her markings hidden under some make-up and then tucked the rogue strands behind her sensitive Altean ear. Both her ember eyes looked into his sparking sliver ones in shock and disbelief. Bright red lips parted in a small gasp at the wonderful sensations from him stroking two of her sensitive areas, failing to hold back the pleasurable shivers she got from the gentle and innocent action.

" _ **SHIRO**_! Stop seducing Miss Devine! It is not in the Paladin code to harass innocent maidens!" Allura yelled at the Paladin, scandalized by him touching the woman so intimately in front of others. Shiro blinked in confusion as he looked at a blushing and wide eyed woman who didn't seem to be breathing as his Galra hand lingered under her chin that was tilted up to either look at him or...

The Paladin quickly removed his hand, blushing a bright red as he looked away from the woman who let out a shaky sigh with red mist as she muttered under her breath. _"I'm hardly innocent."_ Shiro heard before Devine turned to the Lion thieves after a quick moment.

"Sir, I would like to speak with your daughter for a moment if you please." She addressed the orange alien that was not part of the series back in her old world, but seemed to be Nyma's father. "M-me?" Nyma looked nervous as she pointed to herself in confusion as Devine shook her head, undoing Shiro's work as her hair fell over the left side of her face again. "No. Nana." The woman corrected as the little girl looked at the woman with wide eyes that also sparked with suspicion.

"W-why? She's only a little girl." Her father spoke up worriedly as Devine rolled her eyes. "Sir, I believe we both know she's much smarter than she looks." The woman said as she looked at the little girl who tilted her head innocently, but inside she was scared. The older woman had to think of the way she confirmed it to the others.

"Sheith is cannon, and Klance will never happen." She told the little girl, whose eyes widen in understanding as her mouth opened to retort. "No! Klance is OTP!" she yelled, the two confusing everyone with what they were saying, but they had confirmed something about each other.

"Daddy. I'm gonna talk with Nyx. Be right back." She told her father clearly, dropping the childish tone she used before grabbing Devine's hand as they walked away from the group to talk out of their ear shot.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"You're not from this world too?" Nana asked as her blue eyes sparkled in excitement. Devine shook her head. "No. I'm from a world where this is-" " _ **all a cartoon**_!" Both said at the same time, as Devine kneeled down to the little girl's height. "I can't believe it! Are there more like us? Like from the real world?" Nana asked excited at meeting other's from her world, confused by Devine's frown. "Yes, but how did you... get here?" she asked unsurely. The little girl blinked in confusion. "I don't know. I was just born again into this world. I couldn't believe it when I saw the castle of Lions!" the little girl squealed in excitement, but the older woman shook her head. "No, I mean… how did you die... back in our old world?" she asked unsurely as the little girl's eyes dampened.

"Oh. That..." the little girl hesitated with her response before looking back at her.

"How did you?" she asked unsurely.

"Drowning or Hypothermia, not sure which did me in." she confessed sadly, shivering as she remembered the cold dark abyss that brought her into this world.

"Poison in my OJ. How old where you? When you…" the little girl wanted to ask but looked unsure.

"Twenty-Eight." Devine confessed as Nana laughed sadly.

"You where as old as my mom. I was fourteen, and she was Twenty-Eight too." She explained as the empath felt the heart retching sadness.

"Why did you die?" Devine asked as Nana didn't look at her as she answered.

"My dad was going to take me away from my mom... she gave me the poisoned OJ." She admitted as the older woman let out a shaky sigh before she confessed to another like her. "My family was murdered in front of me." she confessed, not lying about the event before her death, just holding back some details that a stranger form any world, wouldn't understand.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Shiro are you hot for Miss Devine?" Lance asked their leader, a smirk on his lips as he saw the black paladin blush. "W-what, Lance. No. She- she's just..." the Japanese man tried to think of an excuse for his actions as Allura glared at him angrily.

"Just what?" Allura asked as Pidge thought about what she had witnessed with the others.

"I don't know what happened, I just..." Shiro tried to say it but the words died on his tongue before he could say them. _'I just wanted to_ _ **KISS**_ _her.'_ He thought in embarrassment, confused by the sudden urge to kiss her lips, her nose, her cheeks, her forehead, her ears, her jaw, and even her neck before he stopped himself from thinking about planting his lips any lower on her body. Suddenly they all heard a very loud squeal coming from the two females that left them, as well as large sparks of pink and white they could see from a distance sprouting from Devine.

"Nana!?" The orange alien called out worriedly to his youngest child, wanting to check on her but the little girl ran back to them with a wide grin. "Shiro! Devine wants you to-mm!" The little girl started before Devine covered her mouth blushing bright red. "Shut up! He doesn't need to know that." She hissed at the girl as everyone stared at the two in confusion. "Hey, Miss Devine you think Shiro is _super_ hot right?" Lance asked with a grin, winking at Nana who grinned under the woman's hands.

"Of course! He's a total beef cake!" the woman confessed before she let the little girl go as Nana snickered, giving Lance a high five for their success. Leaving Devine frozen in shocked horror, and Shiro's face was burning dark red at her confession. "Um? Can we get back to the mission? We are kinda on a time crunch here." Devine asked as she took a calming breath and refocused on her upcoming ' _date'_ with a pervertive tentacle monster.

"What mission?" Pidge asked as Hunk groaned. "Are we ever gonna get back to rescuing Shay!?" he asked as Devine gave him a worried frown. "We will Hunk, but we are gonna need all the lions to from Voltron. It's not gonna be too easy to get Sapphire back either." She told him as the large paladin pouted.

"Don't do it Nyx. Your worth more than these weird cat things." Rolo spoke up before being hit by Nyma again for eyeing Devine again. The woman sighed in response as she looked at the elderly orange alien, offering him a piece of paper. "Since your ship doesn't work now, you'll have to contact Jax for a pick up." she informed him as their eyes widen at the name. "Jax! As in Jaxed up, Jax?" Nyma asked with interest in her purple eyes as Rolo scowled.

"Yeah. Just tell him _**Anna**_ sent you. He'll understand, he's a lot like Nana and myself." She informed them as Nana's eyes widen at that information. Devine finding it weird to say her old name, but the others insisted on using theirs, despite the way they left it behind. "T-thank you Miss Nyx. We will not forget your kindness." The orange alien thanked her as she sighed. "Don't thank me, if you stay with him you have to work hard and follow orders. That's how our crews work." She told them before going back to the castle with the Paladins, ignoring Shiro's eyes as she passed him.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Okay. How are we gonna get Sapphire back from this Yohan guy?" Lance asked as they where gathered in the living room to be briefed by their scantily dressed liaison. "Yeah, and why are you dressed like..." Keith trailed off as he looked at Devine before blushing and looking away, making the woman sigh. "Because I have a ' _dinner'_ date with Yohan. That's our chance to take back Safy since I have proven she belongs to me. There is still a high chance that he will deny my ownership. I can distract him for a while or until Lance get's Sapphire out of there before he can trade her to someone else." she told them as their eyes widen at her words.

"You have a _date_!?" Lance yelled in shock, making Devine cringe in disgust.

" _Dinner_ Date. I was specific about that, as his meaning for the term date is vastly different from ours, so you will need to be quick." Devine told Lance who smirked. "No problem, how hard can it be?" he asked, confident with his abilities. "Hunk you'll come with us and be Lance's back-up in case anyone on Yohan's crew starts anything." She informed as the large paladin saluted her. "Pidge. You will be on stand-by with Peridot in case they try to board the castle. Keith you'll be protecting Allura and Coran inside the Castel if they get past Pidge somehow." She instructed before turning to Shiro who was being a good solder and looking her in the eye as she gave him orders. "Shiro you'll be with me. Hopefully he won't be ballsy enough to try and start a fight with you." She informed him before she sighed again.

"Wait, why Shiro?" Keith asked, looking at her in suspicion as Pidge grinned. "Because she's Hungry for some Shiro _beef cake_ ~." The young girl teased as Devine turned red along with Shiro.

"Katie! That's not why he'll be with me! Shiro has a reputation for being a fierce and unbeatable gladiator. Yohan isn't a good fighter but he has-" Devine shivers as she thinks of them "Tentacles, and access to chemicals that can leave a someone listless for hours! I'll need back up in case he tries anything drastic." she scolded the young girl whose eyes widen.

"Which brings up the biggest warning. If your offered something, especially food or drink. Don't take it, that's how they acquire more victims and I'm not losing any of you to that Squid headed-" Devine growled as she sparked smokey gray sparks, bearing her sharp teeth in anger. "Alright Miss Devine. I think we got it. It's a pretty impressive plan, but I have to ask." Shiro spoke up looking worried as Devine took a calming breath.

"Why don't we just get rid of him?" the black paladin asked as the whole room became cold. "If he's buying prisoners from the Galra and charging high prices to release them, wouldn't it be better to just end him?" Shiro asked as Devine stared at him strangely, biting her lip.

"Is there something you're not telling us?" Keith asked, as Devine stiffened. "Yes, but... please don't believe anything Yohan might say about me." she admitted looking away from everyone, trying not to spark yellow, but they could all she was scared of something.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Devine reapplied her lipstick nervously as Shiro flew Obsidian to Yohan's large cargo ship, a hanger door open to let the large cat mech land.

"This is his ship?" Lance asked as he looked back at Devine who looked at the display with a deep frown. "Yeah, it's where he does all his... _business_ transactions." she hissed angrily as she felt Hunk's anger and frustration at another side mission. "Relax, Hunk. Just have Lance's back. Yohan isn't the only dangerous one here. Just get Sapphire out of there and _nothing_ else." She told the large paladin firmly, having heard the orange alien's plea to save his wife, but she knew the woman would be in no condition to return to her family after being with Yohan's crew for so long.

Shiro felt her unease as he landed Obsidian in the hanger, the door closing behind them as they disembarked the lion who let out a low growl in displeasure. The black Paladin was briefly confused before he felt the woman press into his left arm, where he could feel her warm breasts threw his armor.

"Shiro." She called his name quietly, his gray eyes looking over at her for a tick before he felt her lips on his in a quick kiss. "Just in case, try not to say anything and look intimidating." She told him pulling away as he blushed at the sudden unexpected action that went unnoticed by the younger paladins.

"See you've got new pets, _Babe~_. They even have matching uniforms." A wolfish looking alien mused as he eyed Devine hungrily but the woman looked unimpressed as she had her right arm looped with Shiro's left.

"Where's Yohan?" she asked coldly as the wolf chuckled. "Aww~ don't be such an _ice bitch_ , I thought we were friends _babe_ ~." The wolf chuckled, trying to get a reaction as Devine stared at him with disinterest. "Your boss has something of mine, I want it back." She told him coldly as Lance and Hunk shivered at her tone, Shrio was confused as he felt her hold on him tighten as the wolf laughed. "I don't think you can get your _**cheery**_ back, _babe_. But if you're talking about your _**puss**_ -" he started before there was a powerful gust of wind that threw him across the hanger into the far wall as Obsidian growled.

' _ **Filthy mongrel! How dare he speak to my cub that way!'**_ the black lion growled angrily, Shiro becoming stiff as he started to understand why Devine wanted him with her as she let out a relived sigh.

"Thanks Obi." She whispered to the lion before the hanger doors opened and out walked an amused Yohan. The paladins cringed at seeing the squid head with a very noticeable gut and rotting sea food smell.

"Nyx~, you look _delectable_. Are we skipping dinner then?" he asked as he eyed the woman hungrily, Shiro was confused as she separated herself from him quickly.

"No. Your mutt was thinking with his other _head_. I brought the one responsible for losing my Sapphire, and a guard to make sure he doesn't screw up again." Devine said coldly as she gestured to Lance and Hunk who glared at Yohan. He glanced at them before looking at Devine with an amused smirk. "Ah~, you always where a fan of color coding. Rex." Yohan called out as a massive orange and black reptile followed the squid head, letting out a low growl. "Show these gentlemen where Nyx's blue kitten is kept." He chuckled before approaching Devine, only to be blocked by Lance and Hunk.

"You two, go get my Sapphire. _**Now**_." She commanded the two paladins who looked at her in confusion before following the large reptile reluctantly, Yohan frowned as he glared at Shiro who didn't move from Devine's side. "And this one?" he asked, addressing Devine and not the paladin next to her, as the woman smirked confidently. " _The Champion_ from the Galra Arena, and my newest toy, so he's not leaving my side until he's been _broken_." She lied with a smirk as Yohan spied her smudged lipstick, and glanced at the male human's lips that where strained red from a hasty kiss.

"I see." Yohan hissed in displeasure, narrowing his eyes at the paladin but doing nothing more than that before leading them away from the black lion, she growled in displeasure raising her purple practical barrier as they left, the recovering wolf glaring at the cat before throwing a piece of scrap at the barrier uselessly.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"So… what do you guys do on this ship?" Lance asked, trying to talk to their escort who wasn't very chatty. "How does your captain know Miss, ah? Nyx?" Hunk tried to ask but the creature was still silent.

"Ha! Don't bother, Rex can't speak like us. That's why the captain keeps him around." Lance and Hunk looked at the large gray wolf looking alien that appeared in a door way, only to be shocked that it appeared to be naked.

"Dude! Why are you naked!?" Lance asked as Hunk covered his eyes, both boys becoming uncomfortable as it chuckled. "I got a thing about clothes pups. Besides I was just finishing up with my favorite _kitten_ ~." The wolf motioned behind him, the room was dark and the two boys couldn't see anything beyond him.

"Ah? Lance, Sapphire. Remember?" Hunk reminded his friend who seemed to have understood the wolf as his normally chocolate colored skin paled. "Sapphire? That's a nice name, she your _kitten_ , pup?" the gray wolf asked Lance, giving the blue Paladin a smirk, Lance however didn't like it.

"She's my _lion_ , so put some clothes on I wanna ask you something since Rex can't talk." Lance admitted, shifting uncomfortably at the alien's nudity. "Lance, she said to get Sapphire and get out of here." Hunk reminded his friend worriedly as the gray wolf scoffed. "You don't need to listen to a female pups. Unless she's asking for more." He chuckled with a grin as the two paladin's looked at him with confusion.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"This is just _lovely_." Devine lied as she stopped herself from cringing at the red and green décor. A small square table set for two with expensive looking sliver wear with red flowers being creased slowly by small green tentacles set at the center of the table.

Shiro become unsettled as soon as the other male reached for Devine, his hand stretched across her back grabbing her upper right arm, trying to separate them as he took long, quick steps leading her away from him, or trying to. He was shorter then Devine and she took small, slow steps to slow him down, but also allowing the creep's hand to slip to the small of her back, then stroke her backside which made a displeased growl come from deep within the paladin's chest.

"Hand off my ass Yohan. He likes his _rewards_ , very much." Devine lied, trying to calm the angry Paladin, and also stop Yohan from touching her ass at least. Only he seemed to take it as an invitation to slap her behind, making her yelp in surprise. "Yes, it is a nice ass. He's got good taste at least." He chucked before taking a seat making her take the one with her back to the entrance, Shiro standing at her right to glare at the man who didn't look at Devine's face, only her partly exposed chest, yet the woman said nothing ageists him looking.

' _Stay calm.'_ Shiro heard her think, but wasn't sure if it was for him, or herself as Yohan poured three glasses of blood red wine.

"Can your pet at least drink? He has to be to keep up with your habit." he smirked with amusement. "I believe you will find the taste quite _familiar~."_ He mused gleefully, unnerving the black paladin who didn't dare touch it as he saw Devine pick up the glass he offered her, swirling it around as the ' _wine'_ stained the walls of the glass red.

' _It's blood.'_ Devine thought worriedly, salivating from the fresh scent of blood, before her mind pondered about why it smelled so fresh.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"In here." The now dressed gray wolf alien mused as he lead the two Paladins into a strange room with several occupied pods giving an eerily familiar purple glow. They carefully walked into the storage room as the wolf lead them to a pod with a gray and white female that looked like Nyma and Nana. "This what you pups are looking for?" he asked with a smirk as Lance approached the pod, frowning as the female inside seemed off.

"Lance, let's just get Sapphire and go." Hunk told his friend, something about the pods disturbing the yellow paladin as he felt his lion pleading for him to flee. Lance felt Sapphire plead for him to come to her urgently, but he didn't know why before feeling something wrap around his legs and waist.

"AGH! What are these things!?" Hunk yelled as the two paladins found little green squids that wrapped around them tightly with slimy tentacles. "The Boss's offspring, wouldn't want to hurt little babies now would you?" the wolf chuckled as Lance and Hunk fell to the floor, baby squids covered the two before dragging them to empty pods.

"Hey, at least you pups will bring us a lot of money." The gray wolf mused as he watched the Paladins become imprisoned in a cocoon of squid with a greedy grin, not noticing the blue paladin's eyes starting to glow.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"You don't let your pet have much _fun_ do you?" Yohan asked as he threw a glare at the silent Black paladin who hid his unease at the squid faced alien putting his hand on Devine's. "There are times and places for _rewards_. I don't need him thinking he's the _master_." She explained coolly as they were served, the paladin looking worriedly at Devine's plate as he remembered her warning.

He opened his mouth, about to say something before Yohan inserted food form his plate, into her mouth suddenly.

"How's it taste? Is it to your liking?" he asked with a smirk, having intentionally shoved the food deep into her mouth to test her gag reflex, being pleasantly surprised when she didn't seem to gag at his action before pulling the eating utensil out of her mouth.

"Could use some _Ika_ , but it is palatable." She responded, trying not to show her annoyance and distain of the bland food. Shiro blinked in confusion as his mind translated the strange word she used before looking at the squid faced alien. "Ika? Never heard of that, must be delicious if you like it." Yohan mused as the woman flinched, making him smirk. At first Shiro was confused before looking down at her exposed thighs, Yohan had pushed up her already short skirt to expose jagged stripes that ran across her outer tights, the tips of his fingers creasing her inner thy so casually made the Paladin clench his teeth. He could hear Obsidian growling lowly in his mind, just as displeased as he had to watch Yohan hungrily eye Devine's body, and the woman didn't seem to care as she enticed him to look. The lion's displeased growls nearly drowned out their voices before Devine stood up and walked over to him, a confident smirk fading into a worried frown.

" _Champion~,_ Who's pet are you?" she asked with a small pink blush, purring his moniker with a breathy tone before he heard her voice purr in his head. "I am your pet, _My_ _Mistress_." he repeated without hesitation, noticing the woman's blush grow darker as her ember eyes widen in shock surprise. Yohan frowned as he eyed the two suspiciously, giving a short scoff at the act. "Basic slave conditioning, you should get a refund for his training, Nyx." The squid face scowled at Shiro who wrapped his arms possessively around her waist, pulling her very close to his chest, catching the woman off guard a she reflexively placed her hands on his chest that rumbled with a deep growl as he glared at Yohan.

"He still has some bite in him. I bet _**100,000 GAC**_ he gets you from behind." The squid challenged with a smirk, seeing the woman's skin slowly turning pink in embarrassment as she tried to fight inappropriate desire, letting out a sigh of blue mist that only entered her body with a wave of clam. "I like my _pets_ with some fight in them, Yohan. They get a lot more _creative_ than just laying about, waiting for me to play with them. It makes them more useful in more than two or three ways." Devine purred as she smirked, looking back at Yohan as she embarrassingly cuddled into Shiro's chest, feeling a bit to warm where his arms wrapped around nearly bare skin.

Yohan glared back at Shiro, before smirking, holding up a strip of black cloth that made Devine stiffen in shock as she shifted her legs to check if they were really gone.

"Creativity doesn't make up for talent or skill, Nyx~. Your pet's training was a sham." He smirked at Shiro who was confused by the black cloth in the squid head's hand. "N-no it wasn't. He would do anything for me, regardless if I ask him to or not." Devine tried to stay calm as she pressed her thighs together self curiously before looking up at Shiro with a fake smirk but a very real dark red blush on her face.

"Isn't that right, _My Champion_?" she asked, purring out his title as she puffed out her lips slightly. "Yes, _My Mistress_." The black paladin responded and didn't hesitate to follow her odd orders after, leaning down to capture her red painted lips. Yohan growled at the display as Shiro counted to three slowly, keeping his inexperienced lips on her puffy, soft lips that tasted like cherries. His Galra hand sinking down her body over the curve of her backside, gently squeezing one of the soft cheeks as his flesh and blood hand was gently pressed into the middle of her back, right on top of the crystal wings. Pulling away the black paladin noticed her wide, shocked golden eyes staring at him as her face was a very deep red, sparking pink and white uncontrollably before he felt her go weak in his arms, having fainted.

"D-devine!?" he called out worriedly, surprised by her reaction before Yohan stood up from his chair angrily. "I knew she was lying about you Champion." He sneered at the fainted woman in the other male's arms, the black cloth swaying from one of his tentacles. Shiro froze as he looked at Yohan in anger, feeling his lion roar in rage even before he noticed the other male had a pair of woman's panties in his grasp... Devine's panties...

"A whore should only use her body for a male's pleasure. Isn't that right, Cha-" Yohan mused as he approached Shiro, panties still in his grasp, seeing the paladin's wide gray eyes lock on to him as they took on a strange glow to them, cradling the woman in his left arm. Without much thought, Shiro powered up his Galra arm and ran it right threw the Squid man's chest. Yohan cried out in pain as the power from the glowing purple hand burned a whole threw his chest, purple blood splattering over the paladin and the woman he held close to his chest.

Startled Devine gasped as she witnessed Shiro slowly removeing his arm from Yohan's body. The purple blood sizzling as it dripped over the glowing appendage, the Japanese man's eye glowed sliver with cold ruthlessness as they where narrowed at the pervetied male. She found it hard to breathe as she stared at the pale handsome face of the black paladin, small splatters of blood dripping down from his cheek down to his chin, a small drop of blood dripped from his face down to her chest, the cold blood on her hot body made her shiver in delight as it traveled slowly down between her breasts. Not noticing Shiro's eyes coming back into focus to look at her worriedly.

"Ah! Miss Devine? Are you-" Shiro tried to ask out of worry but was silenced when she crashed her lips into his hungrily, the black paladin blushed as he felt her tongue enticing his own with its strange taste and teasing touches. The paladin could feel the heat coming off her body thu his armor, feeling her arms wrap around his neck to deepen the kiss for a few more seconds before she pulled back for air, silver and gold eyes glowed softly before they widened in shock at the realization of what had happened.

"S-shiro..." she softly called his name with a blush, sparking white and pink hearts before they separated from each other, standing in an awkward silence, both looking ashamed of what had happened. "Miss Devine... I'm sorry... I..." Shiro spoke up first as he looked at his bloody arm and then at the withering body of Yohan who was choking up blood as he died, not feeling any remorse for the deed this time. Devine could feel his fear as well as her own, fearful about how she felt seeing him dripping in the blood of the foul creature dying on the floor slowly. She gulped thickly trying to cast away the powerful _desire_ she wanted to unleash on her knight in shining armor as a _reward_.

"T-thank you." She voiced unsurely, surprising Shiro as he looked at her with disbelief, seeing her spark yellow as she looked away from him, taking an uneasy stance with her arms crossed over her chest.

"What? Miss Devine I just-" Shiro asked uneasily, looking at his bloody hand in shame for taking another life. "It was for the right reason." She told him before sighing a blue mist before she unfolded her arms and faced him with seriousness. "I think we need to get out of here before the crew finds out their captain is dead." Devine told him, as she pulled down her skirt more. Shiro blushed as he pointed at the missing panties among the dead creature's tentacles.

"Are... you going to put those back on?" he asked unsurely as he saw her turn red before scowling at her conflicting options. "I rather go commando." she grumbled before leaving, grabbing Shiro's other hand to get back to Obsidan quickly.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"What the cheese?" Lance asked as he shook off the little squids easily, looking like they had been flash frozen as soon as he body started to glow blue. After that it was easy to get them off like a light layer of snow, but the paladin didn't feel cold at all. "Hunk?" he called out to his friend what was still in a mass of baby squids. "Don't worry, I got cha buddy." Lance called out as he reached for the restring squid, confused as they seemed to freeze as soon as he touched them, pulling them off his frightened friend who was shivering.

"L-lance?" he called his friend in confusion as the blue paladin smirk. "What the quiznck happened to you?" Hunk asked as he stared at his now white haired friend, his blue eyes glowed like the blue markings that decorated his cheeks the Altean markings. "What are you talking about man? We have to save that lady for Nana and Nyma." Lance pointed out to the female alien, gliding his hand over the little squids to freeze them, making it easy for his friend to break free.

"Lance I don't think-"

' _Lance! Hunk! Get to Sapphire now!'_ Both boys jumped as they heard Shiro's voice threw their coms suddenly. "Shiro! We got to save these prisoners first, one of them is-"

' _Lance, there's no one else besides us and the crew on-'_ the woman cut herself off suddenly, the young paladin's eyes widening in fear before Lance turned his glowing blue eyes to the pods that held several dozen bodies, all female. "Um? Miss Devine, Lance and I are looking at several pods filled with... women I think?" Hunk answered her as Lance opened the pod the woman was in, looking worried as she lay far to still in her container.

' _Both of you get out of there, now! D-don't worry about the dead.'_ she ordered, sounding very worried as Lance tried to shake the woman awake, only to feel an eerie coldness to the... body.

"She's... dead?" Lance asked as he felt warm tears running down his cheeks as his eyes glowed a brighter blue.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Devine bit her lip hard enough to bleed as she felt the blue orb unleash from inside of Lance, Shiro looked at her worriedly, feeling her shaking threw his arm she still held. "Did you-" he tried to ask but she shook her head before he could finish. "No. They had been long gone before we even came on board. There's... no trace of their Quintessince anywhere." She told him, biting back her tears before they where spotted by a wolf guard.

"You whore! What did you do to our captain!?" he yelled angrily, grabbing Devine roughly before there was a quick flash of lavender before the wolf's head separated from his body that fell at the woman's feet. Shiro's eyes widen in surprise as a white diamond shaped shield was splattered with blood, Devine having used her Marmora blade to decapitate the random guard. "Go. I'll take care of the rest of the ship. It's my fault I let them get away with these horrendous acts." She told him firmly as she cursed her reflex, gripping her Marmora blade tightly as the blood dripped off it easily.

"No, I'm not leaving you to face these guys on your own." Shiro affirmed as Devine looked at him in surprise as tears dripped from her eyes, he could see she was scared from the yellow sparks. "I-I'll be fine. Get back to the castle with the lions." She told him, trembling as she suppressed her... blood lust and anger at the vile creatures she had tolerated for so long, only because they were useful with their perverted captain in command, yet with him dead...

"No. Leaving you alone here would be like leaving a lamb in a den of wolves." He told her seriously, sliver eyes narrowed in determination as his lips set into a stern frown. Devine couldn't help but admire how... sexy he looked and the feelings of concern for her safety where touching. Then her fogged mind finally processed what he had said and started laughing.

"Did you... seriously just called me a _Lamb_?" she asked laughing loudly truly amused as she sparked white and yellow, still scared but also… happy?

"Over here!" someone yelled as more vicious looking alien wolves, gasping at the body of their fallen pack mate at the feet of a laughing woman with a furless male. "You heartless bitch!" a wolf yelled angrily and opened fire on the two, Shiro quickly pulling them both out of the line of fire, covering her with his body protectively. "Devine we need to-" Shiro tried to say before he found the woman's lips on his own again, only lasting for a tick as she pulled away with a seductive look that made the paladin blush bright red within a second.

"I'm not a little lamb, _Takashi~_ " she purred, using his given name that sounded far to erotic coming from her lips, giving her time to slip under his arm to take care of the pack of alien wolves with vindictive glee as she was coated in their blood.

"I'm a _Lioness~_." She purred in amusement, licking off some of the splattered blood from near her lips.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"What's taking them so long?" Keith asked with a frown as he laid back in his seat on the main deck, arms crossed in frustration as Allura and Coran tried not to show their unease, not having seen Sapphire or Obsidian come out of the ship.

"Coran, you don't think he's making her... _mate_ with him. Do you?" the princess asked unsurely; paling at the thought of the squid faced male violating the woman, it almost made her physically sick. Coran plucked at his mustache nervously but shook his head at the princess' question. "I don't think that's even possible Princess, since it seems Miss Devine and _**Number One**_ are _bonded_ _soul mates._ I dought he would even allow another male to even touch her." He responded as blue and purple eyes blinked in confusion before looking at the Altean male.

" _ **What?"**_ Keith and Allura asked in confusion by this new information. " _Bonded soul mates_? Coran, that can't be possible... could it?" she asked looking scandalized as her face turned pink as Keith looked confused. "What does _bonded soul mates_ have to do with anything?" the young paladin asked, narrowing his eyes at the older Altean. "Well, it seems those two have souls that are pieces to one whole. Together they complete each other like no one else can. Not to mention they are _bonded_ soul mates, which means we should give those two lots of privacy, and maybe prepare for a new Altean child to be born." The Altean Advisor explained fondly, much to the horror of the two young ones who turned bright red at the thought of Shiro and Devine trying to make a child together.

" _Guys! We got Sapphire, but something's up with Lance."_ Hunk called out threw the coms at everyone. Dropping the topic for now, Allura pulled up the screen for the blue lion, both Alteans gasping as they saw Lance with markings that glowed blue like his eyes that spilled tears. "Number three! What's the matter?" Coran asked as Lance looked confused and conflicted before he spoke.

 _"I... I couldn't save Nana's mom."_ He admitted as his breath came out in white puffs of air, Hunk shivering as the tempture dropped inside the blue lion sharply.

"Where are Shiro and Miss Devine?" Allura asked with concern before they all heard Shiro's voice. _"We're taking care of the crew. Their captain's dead and their not too happy about-."_ He reported before there was a loud screeching roar. _"Holy Quiznack..."_ the black paladin cursed in slight fear. "Shiro? What happened? What was that noise?" Keith asked, concerned for the older male who was quite for a few ticks after. _"Ah? Miss Devine is... really good with a sword."_ He admitted, but it still made everyone uneasy.

" _Pidge. If anything beside the lions escapes this ship, destroy it."_ Came Devine's voice as the woman was breathing heavily. "Gotcha, but are you okay Miss Devine?" Pidge asked in sight confusion as she heard a low growl come over the com. _"Peachey."_ Devine hissed out before there was the sound of something metal falling down.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Devine took deep breaths as she flicked the blood off her blade, the bodies of several of Yohan's crew members cut to ribbons, blood splattered all over with only a few specks of blood visible on her skin as the black and red clothes absorbed most of the blood splatter, only a few strands of her hair retained spots of blood.

Shiro had watched in amazement and slight horror as the woman sparked red with fury, cutting down the literal wolves that manned the ship without hesitation or fear as they took aim at her. White diamond shaped shields had blocked their attacks as blood and white sparks filled the air. A manic grin appeared on the woman's face as the blood spilled from their wounds, it was terrifying the Black Paladin as he recalled the Galra that had ended the lives of other prisoners just like she was ending the lives of the crew... happily and without mercy.

"L-let's… get back to Obsidian." She suggested unsurely, sparking yellow as her sword turned back into a dagger, hiding it amazingly well with her hair on her upper back before trying to the remove blood form her skin nervously, avoiding the silent paladin's eyes. She could feel panic and fear assaulting her heart, but she couldn't tell where it was coming form. The wolves where dead, their quintessence having slipped away with any emotions they had, so it had to be coming from Shiro or...

"Devine... are you okay?" He asked cautiously, seeing her spark yellow and visibly shivering, her thighs pressed together and arms wrapped under her prominent bust. "I'm... fine." She lied but Shiro didn't voice his concern as they reached the black lion who seemed abnormally happy to see them, he could feel a low purr rumbling threw out his body, coming from the lion.

"SHUT UP! OBI!" Devine suddenly yelled as her face glowed in embarrassment, as Shiro felt his lion chuckle before letting them inside, the paladin wishing he could clearly understand what his lion was saying, like the alluring woman in front of him.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

"Is Lance gonna be alright?" Hunk asked the older Altean worriedly as he came out of Lance's room with a thin layer of frost in his hair and clothes. "I'm not quite sure, is it normal for humans to create mini snow storms?" he asked as Pidge's eyes widen and Keith looked confused. "No. Why would you think that's normal?" Keith asked with a slight frown as the mustached man shook off the layer of frost. "What about Miss Devine. I bet she could help. I mean she did heal him, maybe she could fix it?" The smallest paladin suggested helpfully, noticing the altean become stiff and nervous. Devine had disappeared almost as soon as she was back on the ship, with Shiro disappearing into his room not long after.

"I believe Miss Devine is currently… ah? Occupied?" The advisor said nervously, confusing Hunk and Pidge but Keith frowned at the thought of his bother figure and the strange woman together doing couple like things to each other that didn't sit well with the red paladin.

"With what?" Devine asked suddenly, making everyone jump and turn to look at her with wide startled eyes. The woman looked like she had just showered, her the fur of her ears and tail fluffing up form air drying, white hair down and damp, wearing purple pajama bottoms and a sleeveless black turtle neck. Carrying a tray of some green colored liquid that was still hot in one hand with a dark blue blanket and stuffed blue lion draped over her other arm.

"Quiz- Ah! Hello, Miss Devine. How long have you been standing there?" Conran asked, looking confused as the white haired woman blinked at the small group's emotions.

"Not too long. I just thought everyone could use some relaxing tea before we liberate a Balmera and her people. I… don't think I'll be of much use this time around." She admitted nervously, biting her lip as she looked away. "And why is that?" Keith asked, sounding a bit hostile as he narrowed his eyes at her, flinching when her eyes locked with his.

"I can feel the Balmera... dying from here." She admitted, glancing at her tail that was white and pale yellow as she presented it for them to see. Hunk looked worried as Coran frowned in understanding. "Right. You should be fine in the meditation room until it's all over. You can leave everything to me." he assured her taking the tray of tea form her. "Okay, but let me see Lance. It's kinda my fault he's making it snow. Then I'll be on my way." She told them as she picked up one of the tea mugs and walked up to the blue paladin's door icy door.

"Good Luck. It's gonna be cold in there and it looks like you just took a shower." Keith pointed out and was shocked when she chuckled in amusement, giving him a soft smile. "The cold never bothered me anyway~." She mused before heading into Lance's room.

 _ **~Voltron~**_

Once inside, Devine was glad to have taken a few swigs of Nunvil beforehand. She could taste the sadness in the room, manifesting as ice and snow thanks to the Cuban boy's connection to the Guardian Sprit of Water. Looking around the ice covered room she found the bed where Lance was sitting, curled tightly into a ball...

Crying.

Even with the Nunvil in her system, sadness and guilt flooded threw her as she carefully approached the crying human.

"Lance? I have something for you." She spoke softly and gently, the boy's glowing blue eyes looked at her threw his tears, blue Altean makings glowing under them as his dark chocolate locks where now white as snow. Devine's heart nearly stopped in fear that she may have done something irreversible to the boy only to hear him call out to her weakly.

"S-señora Devine." She almost didn't recognize her name from his accent, but she sighed as she tried to respond and make the crying boy more comfortable. "Sí, hijo. Estoy aquí para ti." She said softly before smiling at him warmly, setting down the blanket and tea to hold the cute blue lion plush. "No llores. Sapphire está aquí para animarte." She told him, making the plush's paw tap the Paladin's nose playfully, blue eyes blinked as they locked on to the toy before starting to sparkle in excitement. "Quieres abrazarla?" Devine asked playfully, making the plush move wiggle it wanted to fly out of her hands to cuddle with Lance, a small smile appeared on the boy's face as he slowly took the soft toy from her, carefully hugging it to his chest as it seemed to admit a soft vibrating, purr.

"Pareces frío, hijo. Beba un poco de té caliente." She said, grabbing the tea cup that not had frozen solid tea inside, glaring at the green solid in the cup she took a slow breath holding it at her stripes turned from yellow to red before she blew a small stream of fire to reheat it. Lance gasped at this ability, amazed as the woman offered him the cup. Taking it in both hands the Cuban boy could feel the warming heat gently creasing his cold hands before he took a careful sip, the liquid warm and a little sweet as it warmed his cold insides as he drank it greedily.

Devine was surprised but relived to see the white disappear from his hair and the markings fading back into his chocolate skin, the room was still cold but the snow and ice seemed to disappear without a trace.

"Mejor?" she asked smiling in relief as Lance finished his drink with a smile before his eyes half closed in relaxation. The other side to grief was clam, the orb presumably being drained after being inserted into the human boy's body.

"Better~. I'm just... sleepy...and cold" he responded, yawning as he handed her the cup before cuddling the strangely warm plush. He let out a relived sigh as the woman wrapped the dark blue blanket around him with a mother like gentleness before running her warm hands threw his soft hair as he smiled happily form the caring action. "Get some rest, you'll need it for the next mission." She told him in English, slightly startling the Cuban boy as his eyes widen before looking at her in confusion, reaching out to grab her hand and not her white and blue striped tail in desperation.

"Can you... just sit with me a bit?" he asked her with pleading eyes that struck directly at her heart as she gave a soft smile and sat next to him, a little surprised that he opened up the blanket she draped around him, to be wrap around her along with the paladin's arms in a familiar hug. Devine understood his simple need for warmth, as she pulled her legs up on the bed and hugged the young human to her chest, cradling him in her lap as her body heat warmed up the space under the blanket. Lance smiling contently as he rested his head over her heart as he cuddled his new toy that gave off a cool feeling to keep the two of them from becoming over heated as they fell asleep cuddling each other.

Lance had a light dream about his family back on Earth as Devine was sent to that strange savanna with the lioness again.

* * *

 _ **Authors Note:**_ Ika is Japanese for Squid.

This chapter took the longest to write down. :( It's not that I'm going to abandon it or that I am getting better mentally. I'm still pretty fucked up but my mind has wandered to other fandom's until the next season of Voltron later this month... I think. I may post a story for a game called Yandere Simulator and/or my latest obsession, a French cartoon called Miraculous: Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir~. Then there are other shows I'm obsessed with like My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, Steven Universe, and Aggrestsuo (Not sure I Spelled that right) a show about a cute Hello Kitty esk red panda that channels her frustrations about her life into Karaoke in the form of screaming Death Metal. Honestly I thought it was another cute Japanese anime like Hello Kitty. It's cute, but also kinda speaks to me as I try to write out my frustrations, the cuteness is balanced out by the Death Metal music with lyrics you can actually make out!

I would recommend it to those who know the mind numbing working life of a young adult. Kids could watch it but there are some curse words and I don't think this will interest them much besides the moment's the main character breaks out into a Death Metal song.


	11. Mini Chapter 3:The Champion & The Healer

_**Dark Abyss**_

 _ **Mini Chapter 3, The Champion and The Healer**_

 _ **Warning: Mentions of Self harm, suicide, and implied Sexual Situations**_

* * *

 ** _~ Gladiator Arena, Holding Cells~_**

Takashi Shirogame was relived and terrified by what just happened, cheers from the massive crowd where muffled by the blood rushing in his ears and his own heavy breathing. Dropping his weapon, a strange sword he had taken from his captors to fight this, Myzax, that now lay on the arena floor. No longer able to move let alone fight as the human watched the strange green colored blood drain from the monster's deep wounds and severed tendons.

Of course, he didn't get away without a few cuts and bruises himself, nothing a simple first aid kit couldn't fix, but he was taken directly into a different cell after the battle, no other prisoner inside. His muscles throbbing and cuts burning as the adrenalin left his system, calling out for a medic or aid would be useless with these strange aliens that had abducted him and his crew.

It confused the Japanese pilot to see a tall, cloaked figure standing in the door way to his cell, to injured and tried to fight back. It entered his cell with unusual silence that unnerved him. Its mask already reminded him of the ones medieval plague doctors wore, resembling a flattened birds head with three pairs of glowing yellow eyes. It glided into his cell soundlessly as the door closed behind them, trapping the human with the scary alien in the small dark cell. The Japanese pilot preparing for it to attack or do something to him that he would not like, he didn't expect it to speak to him.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you, please don't be scared."

Shiro stopped breathing for a moment as he tried to process the feminine voice coming from the cloaked alien. Flinching as it rose its hands into the air, palms open showing him that they were unarmed. Yet the Japanese young man was cautious about what might be under the robe. A hand slowly reached for the mask before pulling it off to expose a single pair glowing, golden eyes. He could tell the alien looked concerned, and her couldn't help but stare into the golden eyes that seemed so strangely familiar.

"Will you let me come closer?" she asked worriedly, looking at him with pledging golden eyes that lowered to the ground, as if they were shrinking, but the soft tap of shoes on the ground confused him. The human could feel himself flush slightly before nodding wordlessly. In the dark, he could somehow see her give a soft smile, he heard footsteps that slowly and loudly approach him before her golden eyes lowered even further to the ground, she was kneeling right beside him.

"I'm going to touch your right shoulder. My hands maybe a bit cold." she informed him carefully, and he expected frigid digits, only to be surprised by warm hands gently prodding his shoulder, only wincing when her fingers pressed into the strained muscles in his arm. "It's doesn't seem broken, a bit tender right?" she asked as he felt her hand slide onto his back and over his shoulder blade, leaving a warm trail where her hands had been. He noticed a soft purple light behind him for a second, before feeling warmth invade his body from where her had was placed. Reaching out instinctively to grasp something, what he grabbed was thick and soft, squeezing as his dull nails dug into some strange cloth, but the warm feeling on his back stopped.

"P-please get your hand off my leg." She asked as the young man blushed, he gave a small squeeze of confirmation, before realizing his hand was on the woman's thigh before pulling it away in slight embarrassment from just grabbing her. "S-sorry." He folded his arms over his stomach that started grumbling for food, even one of the Garrison's space meals would do. He felt warmth enter his body again, a soft purple light shining behind him, different from the harsh violet light that dominated the alien ships that captured him and the Holts.

"Who are you?" He asked, his dark gray eyes looking into shining gold that where checking him for other injuries, before focusing back on his eyes with concern and hesitation. They slowly blinked, making him think they had disappeared but was mystified to see them reappear, glowing in the dark cell. Something was strangely familiar about her eyes as she answered him.

"I... I'm a friend here to help."

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Shiro panted heavily as the crowd roared with excitement, a deep frown on his pale face as he looked up and out at the dark stands to see alien shapes but never faces... except for those sitting in a place of reverence. Emperor Zarkon, the ruler of the known universe and his most trusted advisor, a witch named Haggar. Shiro couldn't make out many details of the two from so far away during his time in the arena, but from what he gathered, Zarkon was large and broad, a terrifying image clad in dark marron armor. Haggar appeared less intimidating at first, but just was dangerous as Zarkon, she was hunched over with the hood of her raged cloak hiding most of her hair and eyes a majority of the time.

Then there was something he and all the other prisoners noticed, their completely yellow eyes that seemed to glow with a strange and dangerous power... almost like the golden eyes of his healer.

Shiro couldn't tell if, what he presumes is a young woman, was really a blessing or a curse. Carelessly being dragged back into his cell, his whole body feeling like one big bruise after only his fifth, maybe seventh fight since he had been here? Several cuts on his arms and chest were from his opponent's weapon. They left him waiting in the dark for the woman; hours seem to go past before his cell door opens and he's relived that she was back again.

"Tak-Champion? Are you awake?" he heard her ask, finding it strange she stopped herself from saying something else, but it slips his mind as soon as her warm hands touch his chilled body, it didn't help that the prisoners uniform was so thin. The soothing purple light glows around her hands and he feels the cool, healing waves wash over his body to heal his wounds that glowed a soft lavender.

 _"Arigatou…"_ He sighed, not realizing he had slipped into his mother tongue and missing her response, having fallen asleep from her healing.

The loud sound of his ' _meal'_ being delivered woke him up with a start, heart racing as he looked around his isolated cell for the source of the noise, only to fall on the tray of ' _food'_ his captors provided. Some water and strange grayish, tasteless gruel that had the consistency of jello was served to all the prisoners. Only this time, Shiro saw a strange addition with the usual gruel and water, a purple heart shaped fruit.

Confused, he carefully picked up the fruit and gave it a light squeeze, feeling firm flesh under the soft outer skin that was slightly fuzzy, like a peach. Curiously he sniffed the strange fruit before taking a small bite, the purple skin giving way to the firm pinkish flesh underneath, an explosion of tangy sweetness coated the inside of his mouth, making him drool at the refreshing taste that sparked hope in his chest. With a small smile on his lips, he ate the gruel and fruit, washing it down with water until the next time he saw the strange woman.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Shiro was silent as he felt warm tears roll down his face, only spreading the dark purple blood that was still on his face, numb to the warm healing sensation of his mysterious healer. She had said nothing when she entered his cell, he didn't even look at her he was so ashamed for what he had done, he was a monster just like the Galra.

He had taken an innocent life... the life of a Galra, but still a life.

It was a young Galra solder who bit off more than he could chew, picking _him_ to fight in the arena, just to prove his strength to the other Galra. He was too cocky, underestimating the gladiator that had _EARNED_ the title of Champion several times over, the scars marking his skin, and the new one that was across the bridge of his nose were proof of that.

He could see the split skin across the bridge of his nose glow softly as it healed, not having the energy to be amazed by seeing new skin cover his wound, feeling even more exhausted as he was healed.

"Why?" he asked suddenly, the warm healing sensation faded but he could _feel_ her in his cell... her golden eyes looking at him worriedly in the dark room.

"Why are you healing me?" he asked her as the image of the young Galra's lifeless body, bleeding out at his feet, wide yellow eyes fading into human looking purple irises that stared up at him lifelessly. He had been the reason that the young Galra was dead, and they hauntingly reminded him of someone back on Earth... of Keith.

 _'VICTORY OR DEATH!'_

Those were the words that kept ringing in Shiro's head, the final words of the foolish galra, before he receiving a lance straight threw the galra's chest and heart, if vast amount of purple blood was anything to go by. Dots of purple stained Shiro's raged prisoners uniform, his face and his hands, slowly drying and making the stale air in the small cell smell like iron.

"I ended that kid's life." He stated weakly looking in her direction. The human could see her golden eyes glowing in the dark, more focused on his physical injuries. Like always, he could never see her face, shadowed by the hood of the robe she wore as a disguise.

"I'm a monster, why are you healing me? You could have saved that kids life!" he nearly yelled as he felt her warm fingers pressing into his lips, golden eyes darted to the door fearfully before he grabbed her wrist and pulled it away, her eyes widen in surprise as he pulled her close. Shiro could almost make out her face as he felt her warm breath hit his lips, before feeling her other hand touch his face. It was warm with slender fingers that tenderly creased his cheek, wiping away tears and blood from his face. Only her skin wasn't soft like he expected, they were calloused from some unknown task that left them scared, the unexpected texture being comforting as he gently leaned into her warm hand.

"You're not a monster." She started, pressing her forehead to his, so close he could almost count the thick, white lashes that fanned across her dark colored complexion. "You're just another kind-hearted victim of the Galra Empire." She told him softly as Shiro wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her close and wrapping both arms around her as he trembled.

His body large, cold and hard compared to her small, warm and soft body he held onto her tightly, burying his face in her neck. The scent of the purple peach like fruit coming from her skin, a small thought of him smelling like the gruel entered his mind briefly in dark amusement. She slowly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, running her fingers threw his hair that had grown down to his shoulders, her dulled nails gently scratching his scalp in a soothing motion. Shiro almost imagined feeling her warm lips tenderly kiss his forehead, right where the roots of his hair had started to turn white from all the trauma he had endured.

"Neither of us could have saved him. He chose to die fighting a strong opponent... you just helped him escape this world." She muttered into his hair, holding him tightly with his head nestled under her chin, an ear pressed to her chest allowed him to hear her heart beating rapidly. Shiro held her close, letting himself relax into the embrace as he slowly started to close his eyes, drifting off into an allusive slumber.

The cell door opened suddenly, flooding the small room with harsh purple light, partly blocked by the form of a Galra solder standing in the door way. The Galra's eyes glowing a harsh yellow, narrowing at the two occupants inside the prison cell when there should have only been one. Without thinking, Shiro pulled the mysterious woman behind him, growling with rage at the Galra's sudden appearance, teeth bared and using his body to shield his mysterious healer from the intruder's site.

"So... this is where you have been disappearing off to?" The Glara asked, face hidden in shadow made Shiro take a defensive stance, despite his body protesting the movement. The Galra didn't seem to be looking at the Japanese male, but at the woman behind him.

"M-master Thace." Shiro heard her voice stutter unsurely, hearing her call the Galra master made his blood boil with rage, an animalistic growl escaping his throat made the Galra's eyes widen in shock, taking a small step back. "Shiro! P-please calm down. Master Thace is not going to hurt us." She tried to assure him, placing her hands on his back. A cooling sensation spread from her hands, calming him enough to think rationally, but he didn't dare relax in front of the Galra. " _Little one_ , you're doing something very dangerous. You know you shouldn't be here." The Galra, Thace, scolded the woman, keeping his eyes narrowed in on the young man that glared right back at him.

Shiro was slightly startled as he heard a strange mew from behind him, the sound was cute but at the same time, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up at the strange noise. The woman he was shielding stepped around him, her cloak and mask no longer hiding her face. She was shorter than him; he knew that since their second meeting and he had a feeling she might also have been a Galra but looking at her now just confirmed it.

Fluffy purple and lavender stripped ears on top snow-white hair she pulled into a braided bun behind her head, a few strands framing her purple face that was stripped with two darker markings on each of her cheeks, lavender lips being nervously chewed on by her sharp white teeth, her golden eyes glowing against the pale yellow of the rest of her eyes, framed by thick white lashes that looked at him pleadingly. The Japanese male couldn't help but blush as he finally saw her in the light, her ears hanging low on her head made her look like an adorable kitten that wanted love and affection. While his mind was screaming that she was Galra, the same species as his captors.

"I'm sorry... I have to go." She whispered to him, looking away as she pulled up her hood and walked over to the waiting Galra. Shiro wanted to stop her but shock immobilized him. Learning about what she really was...

A Galra.

The Galra intruder stepped aside and let her walk out of the cell, golden eyes glancing back at him before the door closed between them, and Shiro was locked in his little dark cell to fall limply to the floor in shock.

"S-she's a Galra." He whispered into the darkness in disbelief before blacking out at some point.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Shiro examined the small blade he had in his left hand, he couldn't remember how he got it, only that it was sharp enough to cut into his skin. It could make him bleed more than he already was from the numerous bouts he managed to survive, only earning him more injuries and scars to decorate his paling skin. He didn't know how many days, or maybe weeks, that had pasted since he last saw his Galra healer, or if she would ever come back. It scared him to think the last bit of hope he had was gone, and he didn't try and stop her from leaving with her _master_.

It had never crossed his mind to take his own life...

He had heard about many people ending their lives back on Earth, even a few prisoners found the desperation to do the same, according to the gossiping Galra that came close to the holding cells to be heard. Shiro didn't know how else to get out of fighting, seeing and causing all the carnage for Zarkon's entertainment was wearing at his standards as a human being.

Shiro wasn't a dense; he could feel the Emperors eyes burning right threw him during recent matches with some unknown emotion. He didn't know why or care about the Emperors' interest in him as he fought to survive the savage opponents. Hesitantly, the blade was poised above his injured right wrist shaking a he drew a shallow line across the top layer of skin...

He moved the blade below the first mark and pressed further...

Leaving only a thin pink line before he moved further down his arm, pressing harder into the upper layer of skin and creating a thin line of blood. The site of the red liquid strangely calmed him, moving the blade further down his arm with the intention of cutting even deeper.

"Champion!" He heard a vice call out with distress before he felt his left hand being pulled away, of course he tried to fight back, little blade he was using to try and harm his attacker, only to nick their wrist before they restrained him with abnormal strength the former pilot had never felt before, pining him to the cold, hard ground.

"What were you thinking!? P-please don't tell me the guards let you keep that." The voice of his captor asked, their voice filled with panic and worry.

It took a moment for Shiro to realize the person on top of him sounded familiar, feeling their noticeable weight sitting on his stomach, their legs pining down his own, their hands cuffed around his wrists. Dull gray eyes slowly turned to sliver as they looked up into shimmering golden ones, two layers of white hair barely spectating them; it was when he felt hot tears drip onto his face did he realize the _woman_ who that had been healing him, caught him slitting his wrist.

"You... came back..." he confirmed in disbelief as both guilt and relief flooded threw his body, relaxing unconsciously with her warm body on top of him. He could almost see her a better in his dark cell, with her furry ears lowered in destress.

"Y-yes, I'm sorry for leaving. I had a mission that... didn't go to well." She admitted shyly as she picked up the blade before looking at her waist before licking it, her tongue glowing lavender to heal the bleeding cut.

"Are you hurt?" he asked worriedly before hearing her chuckle softly before softening her grip on his wrists, bringing his injured arm to her mouth. The human male couldn't help but stare as her lips glowed with lavender light as she smiled.

"You're the one with more injuries, and you're asking me if I'm alright?" she asked with a hint of amusement, her warm tongue carefully licking at his cuts to clean away the blood. Pressing her soft, lavender lips to his injury to heal the skin. Shiro blushed heavy as he watched her tend to his small cuts, heart beating fast as another part of his body started to fill with blood.

"It's sweet." She mussed with a small smile, letting go of his arm before the glow on her lips faded and went to her hands, resting on his chest Shiro tried to calm down as the woman could feel his hammering heart under her hand.

"Now, to take care of the rest of _you_ ~." She purred, making the Japanese man shiver as her hands slowly moved down his chest, a few unhealed cuts being treated and popping soft popping noises he recognized as broken bones being repaired. His cold body relaxing from the familiar warmth that slowly covered his body like a blanket, feeling her hands stop at the bottom of his ribcage. He felt her shift off him, moving her body to sit over of his narrow hips... and growing erection.

Shiro froze as soon as she felt her warm weight pressing into his bulge, he could feel his face burning, watching her golden eyes widen, blinking in confusion before she ground her hips down into his carefully, getting a strangled moan out of the human.

"Y-you must have _a lot_ of pent-up stress." she voiced, Shiro feeling her shivering on top of him. Screwing his eyes shut in shame the human gasped as she shifted in his lap, brush away the strands of hair in front of his eyes that gone completely white. Sliver met gold as his eyes popped open in shock, trying to restrain himself from enjoying the soft heat that came from between her legs.

He was a healthy 25-year-old male, he knew about sex, STDs, condoms, and making babies. The Japanese man could truthfully say he did have a few dirty magazines back on Earth, and he was no stranger to porn like any young man his age. His preferences where a little _odd_ , but he could never find a partner that _'peeked his interest'_ back on Earth enough to do anything more than just kiss. Yet here he was with an alien woman, whom he didn't know the name off, was sitting on top of his hardening boner.

"I-i can take care of that for you too... if you let me." she offered, nearly making the human's heart nearly jump out of his mouth. He looked at her with wide eyes, her golden eyes looking into his pleadingly. "It won't be much... but it should relive more of the tension in your body." She mentioned, intentionally shifting in his lap to brush her warm center into his bulge. Quickly Shiro grabbed her hips to make her stop as his heart pounded in his ears. She gave him a slightly hurt look as he tried to make his proper head function clearly as his nails dug into the cloth gathered at her wide hips.

"I-I... I can't use you like that." He admitted, fighting his instincts to take her offer and pour out his _stress_. Shiro felt her warm hands on top of his, the human gulped nervously as she slowly moved his hands down to her thick outer thighs that warmed his hips nicely.

"Have you ever been... with a partner?" she asked him curiously.

Shiro felt his member twitch, blushing at the intimate question. Opening his mouth to try and answer her but quickly shutting it as she removed his hands to stand up and walk over to the door. The cold air of the cell making his budge twitch in slight pain, the prisoner uniform not offering much warmth.

Shiro heard some cloth moving about in the dark cell, glancing over at the woman, he could see that her thick hourglass form that was no longer hidden by the cloak. His body tensing as he heard her whisper something to someone just outside the cell door.

"Make sure we are not disturbed."

 ** _~Voltron~_**

"Takashi." Shiro responded, sighing as the woman finished healing a rather nasty injury to his side. It had taken three separate visits to heal, since she couldn't stay long without raising suspicion. It accrued to the Japanese man that he didn't even give her his name, or even if she would share her name with him.

"What?" she asked, golden eyes blinking in confusion, he saw her ears standup in interest, making him smile at how cute she looked with a genuinely surprised expression on her face.

"My name is Takashi. Shirogane, Takashi." He told her, seeing her lips part in a soft gasp, a dark purple blush coloring her cheeks before she looked away. Nervous about something as she bit her lip with a pointed white fang peeking out at the corner of her mouth, a little tick he noticed whenever she was unsure of that to say.

"It's okay if you won't tell me your name. I'm sure it's dangerous for-"

"Anna. Anna Vargas. It... should be safe for you to know that name." She admitted, blushing as Shiro's eyes widen at the name he heard, carefully rolling it around in his head. He wasn't expecting her to tell him her name at all, but for her name to sound so...

 ** _Human_**

"Are you... human?" he asked carefully, seeing her bit her lip again, looking away shamefully as her ears dropped as low as they could possibly go. "N-not anymore." She admitted before quickly leaving his cell, letting her real name imprint into his memory.

"Vargas, Anna." He repeated her name, closed his eyes and wondering how she could have looked as a human under the soft purple fur.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Shiro grew slightly paranoid when it seemed like a week or so had passed since he was last forced to fight some monstrous opponent. Meaning that his Galra healer, Anna, didn't have to heal any injuries or a good reason to see him. Yet, she did manage to visit him just to keep him sane, even after she helped him with his _stress_.

Anna had managed to seek in some hair clippers and a sharp shaving razor for him. Shiro's black, and now white, hair flowed passed his shoulder blades, and the Japanese man had even managed to grow a short beard while in captivity.

"It's a shame you can't keep it long." Shiro tried not to smirk at her mutterings, Anna carefully braiding his hair as he shaved in what little light she could provide, a strange looking white orb softly lighting the room, allowing the human to see where he still needed to shave, her discarded cloak covering the cell door to keep the light from escaping.

"I'll keep it long if you take me with you." He joked, half serious with his offer. Anna frowned in guilt as she finishes up the braid with a spare hair tie.

"I really can't think of any other way to get you out of here, other than _killing_ you... or _actually_ joining Zarkon. Everything else I come up has too high a chance for one, or both of us getting killed." She answered, pulling out a small blade to cut off the black and white braid in one quick motion. Shiro was slightly impressed with her skill as he felt the remaining hairs brush his ears, but it still felt too long to him.

"It's alright; you've helped me enough as it is." He assured the woman, feeling her fingers brushing threw his remaining hair gently, her claws gently scratching his scalp was rather relaxing, he could almost fall asleep to it as he finished saving his beard. Wiping away the access with a damp cloth she had brought with a small mirror that hung on the wall in front of him.

"The least I can do is give you some comfort." She mussed quietly, having noticed him falling asleep but at the mention of comfort he became stiff, face turning red as he remembered just how she had _comforted_ him.

"Pervert." She jokingly huffed; flicking at his white tuff of hair playfully. He smiled softly threw his blush, as he saw her golden eyes sparkle with playfulness in the mirror. "Are you sure you want it cut so short?" she asked, pulling out the clippers that didn't look much different from the ones on earth, ready to trim the rest of his hair into the requested undercut.

"Yeah. I can always grow it back. It's not like I'm losing an arm." Shiro joked but saw her stiffen suddenly, eyes wide in frozen shock. "Is something wrong?" he asked, turning to look at the female Galra was biting her lip hard enough to make it bleed. "Anna?" he called her name worriedly, making her jump at being startled, her golden eyes looking at him dejectedly. Using his left hand to touch her cheek, his thumb wiping off the blood from her lip with gentleness that was almost foreign to the human after so much fighting.

"Takashi..." she called his name, making a lump appear in his throat form hearing his name come from her lips. Anna looking at him with pleading eyes, grabbing his right arm and holding it tightly.

"I... I have to warn you..." she admitted, shaking slightly as he could feel her grip on his arm tighten, her eyes darting away from his several times. "I... I know you're... you're going to..." she hesitated, looking away from his sliver eyes before she told him clearly.

"You're going to be fighting a Galra Commander!" she blurted out loudly, making them both freeze in fright as they heard the footsteps of a patrol approaching the cell door, a robotic voice spoke up as the woman made the orb turn off to plunge the room into darkness, quickly pulling the cloak away from the door.

" _Status report of Prisoner 117-9875_." It asked, as the two held their breath in fear, Shiro pushing the woman protectively behind him, as the visor of the robotic sentry investigated his cell from the small rectangular opening in the door. Shiro glared at the sentry but it seemed to only scan him before moving away from the door.

 _"Prisoner 117-9875 is in prime fighting condition for the celebratory event."_ The sentry reported before disappearing, its footsteps fading away briskly. Shiro relaxed and let out a relived sigh but he could feel Anna's claws digging into his back painfully as she shook at the near discovery.

"Anna? It's alright, the sentry is gone now." He tried to sooth the woman, but her claws dug into his skin further before she gasped, her hot rapid breath hitting his back as she shook with fear. The Japanese man could almost see strange yellow sparks coming from her. "Hey... What's the matter? I thought you were supposed to heal my wounds, not make them." he joked but he hissed in pain as she pulled her claws out of his back abruptly.

"S-sorry." She apologized quietly, before Shiro felt her forehead resting on his upper back. Her warm breath hitting his new wounds. He shivered pleasantly when he felt her tongue lap at the wounds left by her claws... all ten of them where slowly licked clean of blood.

He wanted to turn around and stop her, but Anna had a strong grip on his arms, pining them to his side with unnatural strength. The former pilot didn't know why it felt so good, his budge swelling at the slow motions of her warm tongue; he held back moans of pleasure as her lips touched his back, kissing the marks that had overlapped with a previous scar, making the skin even more sensitive than it was before.

Once she was done she stopped, Shiro letting out a disappointed sigh with his lower region throbbing painfully. Her hold on his arms relaxed as her hands moved around to his upper chest as she pressed gently into his back. The young man going rigged when he felt her soft mounds pressing into his back, pressing even deeper as she deeply inhaled.

"I don't know if you'll survive..." she admitted as he felt her shake, confusing him slightly as he had survived his fights so far, but then he recalled what she had told him. "I'm going to be fighting a high ranking Galra." he repeated more then asked, but he felt her nod into his back as her hands clasp over his chest, her left hand over his rapidly beating heart.

"Do you know him?" he asked, trying not to let his mind wander to the woman's chest.

"His name is Sendak... he's one of Zarkon's strongest Commanders. He's strong, cunning, and ruthless. He will not hesitate to take any advantage he could to weaken you, and I don't doubt the arena will be rigged to give you even more of disadvantage when you fight him." She began, hugging the human worriedly as she debated on something else. "The only thing in your favor could be his missing right eye and left arm being replaced by an unfamiliar prosthetic one." she told him hopefully, he quietly listened to her, feeling his heart slow down under her hand as he took in this information.

"How do you know this?" he asked her worriedly, frowning before he heard her chuckle.

"I'm the reason he lost the arm... and got a new one as a reward." She confessed sadly, confusing the former pilot as he carefully removed her arms from his chest, turning to look at her only for the words to die in his throat as he looked at a human looking woman with golden eyes.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

Anna fidgeted nervously, her golden eyes looked out into the grallatorial arena, cleaned and prepped for the main event of the night and the reason Shiro had not been fighting. To keep him ' _rested'_ for the fight against Commander Sendek, there had been whispers among the Galra solders that a Commander was interested in knocking down the Champion from his mighty position, the other slaves getting to hopeful for the Galra's liking least they revolt.

A strong Galra was needed to put Shiro in his place, along with the others to show **_NO ONE_** was stronger than the Galra race and for them to submit without question. It was suggested at some point that Zarkon himself would step in to the arena, but the rumors quickly changed to one of his commanders having that honor instead. It wasn't as buzz worthy, but it was still a fight between a Galra and a human, a strange, new creature to this part of the universe.

"Stop fidgeting little one. You are going to draw more attention to yourself." Her master scolded her, a frown on his furry dark face as his yellow eyes glanced around them quickly. Only a few attendances spared a glance at them, looking away in fear as they felt his glare before scurrying along.

Anna's golden eyes looked up at him worriedly; if the old Galra hadn't known any better, he would almost think he was looking at Prince Lotor, Zarkon's only son. He couldn't understand why, or how, she took on the form of a rather feminine looking, _MALE_ Galra. Lavender fur coloring her face, down from her eye brows and across her pointed ears, a darker purple covered her forehead and nose as two dark purple stripes decorated either side of her jaw, her hair still snow white with only a few strands stained lavender and a dark purple spilling from the dark hood that covered most of their head

"I don't like this." she whined again, taking a long swig from a can of strong smelling liquid, making him frown but he didn't stop her, buying another strong drink to give to her. Snatching it up and guzzling it down like it was just water, and not one of the strongest alcoholic beverages in the universe.

"Then why stay? You are only going to hurt yourself by staying here any longer. This creature is not worth your time." He hissed in displeasure, but before she could respond the contestants were introduced and the rowdy crowds drowned out their voices, the _Champion_ entered the ring for his final match.

 ** _~Voltron~_**

 ** _"TAKASHI!"_**

Shiro heard a woman scream his name in utter terror, before he could only hear a loud ringing in his ears. His back hitting the ground, the rest of his body numb in shock as he stared up at the grinning Galra that held up his severed right arm in victory. His left arm shaking as it touched what remained of his lost appendage, feeling nothing but gushing warm blood, broken bone, and torn muscle. He could feel the ground become warm with his blood as he shivered from the cold brush of death coming for him.

His vision fuzzy as there was a bright purple flash, making out a pair of worried golden orbs looking down at him, the feeling of cold hands clasping the stub of his right arm, the feeling of his remaining muscle get forcefully pulled and stretched to close around the broken bone that was removed painfully from his shoulder. He felt numb as his vision cleared only enough for him to see the tear filled golden eyes of his healer, before a massive form appeared behind her with ill intent. Shiro tried to warn her, opening his mouth to suck in desperately needed air into his lungs before her eyes glowed yellow with some strange power, a flash of black struck the Galra, severing his new prosthetic arm from his body.

Everything was still and quiet as the Japanese man felt some comforting warmth bloom in his chest, his vision tinted white as he watched her small form stand protectively in front of him... before he felt more then saw the emperor get up from his chair and enter the arena himself.

After that, Shiro didn't want to remember anymore, the countless experiments done to him to find the source of the white energy that had saved him from certain death.

* * *

A.N.: Not sure if anyone was interested in this, but this is just my own take on how Shiro lost his arm. A slightly more detailed version will be posted on AO3 as The Champion and The Healer.


End file.
